All Things Must Come to an End
by princessmikey14
Summary: Charlotte is 32, divorced, with two children. Unlike most, she actually gets along with her ex. She is thrown for a loop while she's working as a nurse when one of her closest friends is brought in on a stretcher. Daryl/OC. Doesn't line up with season one events. My own ideas.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I know that I've done a story similar to this…but it's still different. I hope you guys like it anyhow. This story is going to be pretty much AU. I don't plan on really following the events of the TV show. I kind of want to try and come up with my own plot almost completely. I'll keep a lot of the same characters in it, and things may be similar to the show, but it's gonna be something very different. Just an FYI, it'll be a few chapters before Daryl even makes an appearance. Don't worry; I don't PLAN on this turning into a love triangle type deal. **

For some reason as Charlotte stood in the ER, waiting to be assigned to a patient, and she heard the siren of an ambulance her heart sank. It only became worse when she saw the people come in with the stretcher followed by a dark haired police officer. Given that King County's police force was small there could be very few people that could be here. But, Charlotte knew. She went to the dark haired man, standing by the entrance. His brown uniform was coated in blood and she closed her eyes as she noticed the look upon his face. "Shane…" she reached up and touched his shoulders, but he lost it. He fell into his friend's arms and hugged her tightly.

"It's my fault, Char. All my fault…" he repeated. She shushed him. As she smoothed her hand over his back calmingly, she realized something.

"Shane, listen. You have to do something for me…You need to go get Lori, Carl, Grace, and Aidan. They need to be here." She was holding it together because she had a job to do. She couldn't break down. "You'll need to pick up Grace and Aidan from school. That's probably where Lori is too…waiting for Carl."

"But Char…I can't."

"Shane Walsh, get your ass out there and bring the people here that need to be here! Or so help me!"

"How do I sign 'em out of school?"

"Grace is just at practice right now. You just have to pick up Aidan when school's out…in ten minutes. Lori will be there waiting for Carl. Bring them back here and I'll find out what I can, okay?" He nodded numbly and went to the task.

"Charlotte, we need you!" one of the other nurses called, Susan was her name. The shorter brunette nodded and made her way to the room where Rick was. They were already prepping him for surgery.

"Mommy!" Aidan, only ten exclaimed when his mother walked into the waiting room. He walked over and hugged her tightly. "Is Uncle Rick going to be okay?" Rick wasn't actually his uncle, but he was like Shane's brother, so he'd long ago become Uncle Rick.

"Sweetheart, I'm not sure," she said.

"Is he…is he alive?" Shane asked. Charlotte nodded.

"He's in a coma," she told the other five people. Lori's face fell and Carl clung to her side, making him seem younger than he was. Aidan held tight to his own mother, while Grace took to hugging her father's side.

Grace was an accident; she wasn't planned in the least. Shane and Charlotte had been high school boyfriend and girlfriend, nothing serious, but a year after graduation, they were married and had a few month old daughter. That's how it was in there small southern town, if the girl was pregnant, the boy married her. Although, she had turned out as such a great kid. She was smart, an A student and wasn't one for wild parties-though she was only a freshmen. She was the spitting image of Charlotte, curly light brown hair, and emerald green eyes, small build, but she lacked the freckles that Charlotte possessed under her eyes and over her nose. She got her height from Shane, she was right around 5'9"

Aidan on the other hand had completely been planned. Four years after Grace was born, Shane and Charlotte were actually enjoying the married life. So, they decided to have another baby. He was smart too, mostly A's and B's, but still smart. He looked more like Shane. His eyes were dark brown, his hair jet black, tanned skin, and more of a stocky build. He had gained the freckles Grace had lacked. They were all over most of his face, and only added to the fact that he was a cute kid.

Shane and Charlotte had divorced when Aidan was five. It wasn't because one of them cheated on the other or anything of the sort. They had just lost whatever it was that made them special as a couple. It had been a mutual thing, and they had simply gone back to being friends after. They simply hadn't meant to be married, and they could both accept that. They shared time with the kids, and still hung out with Rick, Lori, and Carl together. They had both agreed that they were probably the strangest divorced couple ever, but they were fine with that.

"So where do we go from here?" Lori asked between sobs. Charlotte walked over and hugged the woman that she'd come to know as a friend. She wouldn't say that they were best friends, but they were friends at least.

"You can Carl go see him for a few minutes, and then you go home. The doctors will do all that they can."

"And what if they can't do anything?" Lori asked, a deer in headlights look washing over her petite features.

"He will be okay Lori. C'mon," Charlotte led both Carl and Lori into the ICU to the room that Rick was in. She left them, deciding that the family needed privacy. She walked back out to her own family and found all of their faces sullen. "Guys, relax a bit," she said. "People get shot all of the time. The surgery was a success; a coma is just a body's way of healing itself."

"How can you be so calm?" Grace asked.

"It's my job, honey. What choice do I have? When somebody does die, I can't just break down in tears, now can I?" The young brunette shook her head with her lip quivering. "Well, Shane if you want to stay here, even though visiting hours are over in ten minutes…I can take them back to my house-"

"I'm staying with Dad," Aidan insisted.

"Why don't we just go get somethin' to eat? Let Lori have time with 'im?" Shane suggested. By that time, it was nearly eight o'clock and they'd been at the hospital for hours. As much as they were worried about Rick, they still needed to eat.

"Like all of us, or just you and the kids?" Charlotte asked.

"All of us," Shane said.

"Oh, okay. I need to go get changed. Why don't you guys go on ahead? I'll meet you there."

"Where do you wanna go?" Shane asked.

"Um…that little burger place? Something quick…" She noticed the hesitance his movements, but he nodded anyhow.

"Can I ride with you, mom?" Grace asked. She was still in her volleyball uniform, being as she had to leave practice.

"That's fine, honey," Charlotte replied.

"Alright. We'll go get a table, won't we, little man?" Shane said to Aidan, giving him a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. It was more for his son that him. How great could he feel after the day's events?

Without further ado, Charlotte and Grace made their way to the locker room and the former got into her locker. "Do you want a pair of sweats or something? They might be a little big, but that can't be warm. I've got a jacket too," she offered her daughter.

Grace considered denying her mother's offer, but instead she nodded. "Can we stop by the school and get my clothes?"

"I don't think that's gonna work. By now they've got all of the doors locked. You can get them tomorrow can't you?"

"Yeah…I just wished I would've thought to grab them…Everything just happened so fast. Dad came into the gym all bloodied and shaken up, telling me we had to leave. My whole team was confused. But, coach let me go anyway…not that he had much of a choice…"

"You can explain tomorrow," Charlotte wasn't sure how to help her daughter. "Although…I don't think you'll have to. By tomorrow, the whole town will know what happened. It'll be in the papers…hell, it might even make the ten o'clock news! Small towns…" Charlotte was originally from Baltimore, that was why she completely lacked the southern accent, and also how she'd fallen into a clique with Rick and Shane when she started high school. She didn't know anybody and she met Rick in her chemistry class and they became friends, so she met Shane and things went from there.

"Did you like living in a city?"

"Um, kind of. It was kind of nice to be able to go to the grocery store and not run into the whole town," she joked. "But, I like the fact that it's so much easier to breathe. You've been to Grandma and Grandpa's…" After Charlotte had graduated-married Shane, and had Grace, Charlotte's parents had moved back up to Baltimore.

"Yeah, but so much more happens in the city. I mean…think about how sad it is that this is the most interesting thing to happen here, like _ever._"

"You don't want 'interesting' things to happen, Grace. It only makes things harder," Charlotte finished dressing and led the way outside. Maybe that's why she thought she had an easy job. Nurses usually were surrounded by unfortunate deaths…But Charlotte didn't have to see many. She saw a few in the past year, and that was minimal compared to other ER nurses.

They arrived at Charlotte's small car and both got in. As they pulled out of the parking garage, Grace began fiddling with the radio, trying to find her station. Charlotte found herself smiling at the familiarity. She was so distracted that she nearly hit the car in front of her. She slammed on her brakes just in time, and breathed a sigh of relief when they were okay.

"Jeez Mom!" Grace exclaimed.

"Sorry honey. I guess I just wasn't-" Her phone rang a moment later and she answered it quickly. "Hello?" she answered.

"Hey, Char…um can you come pick us up?" It was Shane on the other end. She made a confused face, and as if he'd seen it, he explained. "The jeep broke down," he'd switched from the squad car to the jeep when he'd gotten the children apparently.

"Oh, um yeah. Where are you?"

"'Bout a mile 'way from the burger place."

"Give me five minutes," she replied. King County wasn't big, so it didn't take very long to get anywhere.

"What's going on?" Grace asked.

"Your dad and Aidan broke down. That damn jeep's gettin' old."

"How long has he had it?"

"Um, it's an '02 so it's eleven now. But he got it right after Aidan was born. So, he's had it for nine, almost ten years."

"Wow…How long have you had this car?"

"Five. I bought it right after me and your father got divorced." Given that this wasn't a typical divorce, Grace and Aidan weren't used to playing their parents against each other, they often times did things together, the four of them. Shane and Charlotte had agreed to make things as normal as they could for their children. Which meant, unless you were going to marry someone you were dating, the kids didn't need to meet them, Shane and Charlotte would make all disciplinary decisions together, and the children didn't have to stay anywhere specific. If they wanted to stay with Charlotte for a week straight, that was fine, or if they wanted to spend a night at Shane's in the middle of the week, it was fine. The school bus picked them up at either location-another advantage to being a part of a small town. "Oh look, here they are. You'll have to sit in the back." Charlotte parked, Grace moved to the back seat as Aidan slid in on the other side, and Shane took the front seat.

"Thanks Char," he said.

"I couldn't exactly leave you two out there…Well, if it were just you, that's a different story," she joked.

"Hey!" He protested. "Yer mom's mean," he said to the kids.

"Don't test me Walsh. Would you like to walk?" She turned to him, both Grace and Aidan 'ooed'.

"No ma'am. I'd like to get some warm food an' sleep for a year."

"I second that," Aidan said with a laugh. The radio continued to play in the background on the station that Grace had turned on, when she heard the beginning of the next song, she tapped her mom's shoulder.

"Mom! It's our favorite song!"

"_Girl give it to me. I got somethin' brand new…"_

"What do ya got my kids listenin' to?" Shane asked his ex-wife. This song, _Give it 2 Me_ by Robin Thicke, was highly inappropriate and Grace was loving it. Even Aidan was dancing along with it.

"Robin Thicke," Charlotte shrugged. "_Blurred Lines _is by him too."

"Mom, can I download this when we get home?" She could've done it right then on her phone, but she wanted to wait.

"Absolutely not!" Shane exclaimed. He didn't like his children listening to songs all about sex. Even if Aidan didn't completely comprehend it, he knew that Grace did.

"Shane, it's really not a big deal," Charlotte laughed. She hadn't seen him react this way to music. "It's art, and art is about free expression."

"Charlotte! I thought you'd be wish me on this. It ain't 'bout art…this ain't a good influence on 'em."

"Daddy," Grace started, in her most innocent of voices. "We're not influenced by this music. So daddy, I would like it if we could still listen to this music." Charlotte wanted to high-five her daughter. Grace was very smart, and she knew how to use that.

After the four got something to eat, they all got back into the car. "So, kids, where do you want to stay tonight?"

"Can't we stay with both of you…?" Aidan knew it was silly, but he worried for his dad. He was so scared that if he wasn't at his father's side that he'd end up in the hospital too. And then he didn't want to leave his mom alone either.

"Aidan, you know that-" Charlotte saw how his face fell in the rearview mirror and stopped. "Shane, if you want, I've got the couch open…we can stop at your house and you can pick up clothes…" She hated seeing her children upset and if Shane needed to sleepover for Aidan to be happy.

"All of our school stuff is at Dad's," Grace stated.

"I've got a couch too," Shane said. "Plus we can all go to sleep a little faster…" He saw the face she was making, it was one of uncertainty. He knew that she wasn't very comfortable with them sleeping so close, and she hated that couch. The couch was one of the few things he kept from the divorce. "I'll sleep on the couch," he offered.

"No, I'll sleep on the couch. Your place it is." Charlotte drove to Shane's place, it was kind of out of the way, kind of away from town. She pulled into the drive way and everybody got out of the car and headed inside.

"Night mom," Grace said.

"Night. Go ahead and download that song."

"Thank you."

"Good night mommy," Aidan said, giving his mother a hug.

"Good night sweetie." The two said their goodnights to their father and went to their separate rooms.

"Good night, Shane," Charlotte said before laying on the couch.

"Night, Char."

**AN: I don't know how I feel about this story quite yet…I just had the idea and I couldn't shake it…So, I hope you liked this. This story is not going to be a Shane/OC/Daryl. It will be a Daryl/OC but that won't be until much later. Thank you for reading…we'll just have to see if it goes anywhere. Please review :)!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I don't usually do review replies (anymore) but with this being the second chapter, and the awesome reviews I got from last chapter, I want to do it this time. I won't next chapter…**

**Guest:**** Well, this isn't going to be exactly like the show. I have no idea where I'm going to take it specifically, but I don't even know if they'll end up at the quarry…But, we'll just have to see what happens with Shane. Thanks for the review!**

**Katie93319:**** Thanks! I have one that I think is a little bit the same, but it's not really lol. **

**HermioneandMarcus:**** Thank you!**

**Tellittothefrogs: ****It kinda was at first…but he was good with Carl, and when he found out Lori was pregnant he was more than willing to take care of the baby he thought was his. So, I know he doesn't hate kids, and I was sure to state the fact that he and Charlotte didn't have a fairytale life, y'know? I'm curious to see how I do that too! Lol, usually I kind of just roll with whatever I come up with. Typically I only have the general idea of where I'm going, I've never got anything figured up to the last detail, like to start off this story was going to be much different. Thanks for the review!**

**Petalclaw's PatriceBethPorter:**** Lol, usually I write characters in their early twenties since I'm only 15 and I try to kind of stick to my age range. But, I made Grace close to my age, which meant that Charlotte had to be older. Although, of everything I have posted…there's like two of my OCs that are less than 25. That's true, now he has his own son, and his own daughter to take care of. Thanks for reviewing!**

Shane got up for a drink of water in the middle of the night. He had completely forgotten that Charlotte was even here until he heard her faint snores from the couch. Whimpers began to follow the snores. He flicked the kitchen light on and walked over to her, noticing the tears rolling down her tanned cheeks. He frowned, knowing that she was having a nightmare. Charlotte's dreams were often plagued by them. He'd experienced this first hand since they first spent a night together.

"Char," he said softly. Her green eyes opened right away and looked up at him curiously.

"Shane?" she questioned. She found it odd that she'd dream of her ex-husband waking her from a nightmare…But he had done this often in the past.

"Char, Darlin', do ya wanna move to my room?" he knew that the couch wasn't comfortable, and it was possibly the source of her nightmares tonight.

She sat up and touched her face, wiping the wetness from it. "I was crying?" she asked. She'd always wake up and forget her nightmares. But, now she knew that she wasn't dreaming. The events from the day before came flooding back to her, and she found herself nodding.

"C'mon then," he held out his hand and she took it. She still wore her jeans and shirt that she'd worn home from the hospital. When she rose from the uncomfortable couch, she noticed how stiff her body had become, and how uncomfortable her jeans were.

"Um, can I barrow a shirt? I really don't wanna sleep in these damn things any longer…" Shane nodded. It wasn't an odd request, and she had been the one to volunteer to sleep on the couch.

"Thank you." It wasn't like she hadn't worn one of his shirts before, but the circumstances were vastly different then. When they went back into his bedroom, she picked one up from the floor, not caring whether he'd worn it or not. She liked his smell, she always had. It was kind of odd, but it was comforting.

"I can get ya a clean one?" he offered. She shook her head and turned away. She pulled her own shirt from her head and pulled his on before taking off her jeans. She unclipped her bra and left all of her original clothes to be forgotten on the floor. Shane wouldn't lie, of course he stole glances at her as she changed, but it wasn't as if he hadn't seen it before and she was beautiful.

They hadn't divorced because they didn't have a physical attraction for each other, that was still there…but they couldn't connect emotionally anymore, and they had both agreed that it wouldn't come back. "Good night, Shane." She knew that his eyes had been on her, and she didn't care. She had kind of changed in front of him. Plus, what did it matter? They seen each other fully naked countless times. And, what had he seen? Her back? The back of her legs? She took the side of the bed that she always slept on and went to sleep.

"David…It's not working out," Charlotte said into the phone as she started putting coffee grounds into the coffee pot. "Why? Because you're too young for me. You're two immature and-" She squealed as someone poked her side. "Dammit don't do that," she said to Shane. "Look David," she walked into the other room. "We're done. I can't date someone five years younger than me. You just don't get it," she clicked the phone off. Harsh, but he had admitted that he lived in his mom's basement on their most recent date!

"So who's this David?" Shane asked, eyeing the coffee pot, willing it to cook faster.

"Some guy I went on like two dates with. He still lives with his mom and he's been calling me nonstop. He's too needy for me anyway."

"That right there may be the reason I fell in love with you," he grinned, getting two mugs from the cabinet. It was funny that even after about four years of not living together they still worked together in the kitchen easily.

She scoffed, getting into the fridge in search of something to make for breakfast. "Why? 'Cause I'm cold? I don't really like people in general?"

"Ya ain't cold. Yer jus' self-sufficient. An' ya don't need a phone call every hour."

"I'm also busy with my own life," she pulled out the carton of eggs and the pack of bacon. "Shane Walsh, have you actually started cooking?" she asked in shock.

"Grace, actually. Usually she's up by now…You wouldn't believe how much that girl's like you," he shook his head and pulled out five packs of sugar-two for him, three for her.

"Probably just as much like you as Aidan is," she mused as she put the bacon on the try to cook before sliding it into the oven. She moved to the fridge and got the milk out. Wordlessly he poured the sugar into each of their cups and then the coffee before she added the milk. He stirred them both then handed her the white, King County Police Department mug. "Thank you," she took a seat on top of the counter as she blew on it to cool it off before taking a sip.

"I'm so tired!" Grace groaned as she came and took a seat at the counter in one of the wooden stools. Her light brown curls fell around her head as she placed her head onto the counter top.

"I'm sorry, honey." Charlotte placed a comforting hand on her daughter's back. "Breakfast will be done soon-"

"What the-?" Grace sat up quickly and looked at her mother curiously. "I woke up at dad's…Did I not?" Then she looked over at her father and was deeply confused. That was until she remembered the fact that the jeep had broke down and her mom had stayed there, per Aidan's request. "Never mind."

"How do you want your eggs?" Charlotte asked, brushing off her daughter's brief confusion.

"Scrambled."

"Shane?"

"That's fine. I'm gonna go wake up Aidan," he kissed Grace's head as he walked by to go get his son up.

"Well this is odd," Grace said. She picked up her phone and held it in front of her face. She made an odd face into it and set it back down.

"So was that," the mother commented, seeing everything her daughter did.

"I'm snap chatting Ryan," Grace defended.

"Ryan, hm? Without any make up on?" she pretended to gasp.

"Ryan's a girl. She and Kenzi had a sleepover last night. They wanted me to come too…but…well yeah." Charlotte felt like a failure as a mother when she had no idea who either of those girls were. But then again, Grace had started playing volleyball this year, and she assumed that those girls were older.

"Oh well, I would've had to meet them first."

Grace didn't like that Charlotte always had a 'mom answer' for everything. But, she was pretty okay as far as moms went. She gave Grace her space and was there when she needed her. Although Shane on the other hand, was protective…over protective was more like it. She knew that he loved her, but sometimes she felt like she couldn't breathe. He didn't want her to grow up, but it would happen to matter what.

"I have a game after school."  
"Oh really? What time?"

"Four."

"I'll be there," Just then, Shane's phone began to ring. Not his cell phone, but the older style receiver phone. Charlotte picked it up without hesitation.

"Shane-" the voice on the other end started, but froze when he heard the feminine voice answer. "Um, miss can I talk to Shane?"

"Leon, just go on with it," Charlotte said. "It's me, Charlotte."

"Oh, right…um…" he lost his train of thought. He knew Charlotte very well. Her long tan legs, her pretty face with the most perfect everything he'd ever seen. It was no wonder that she was at Shane's house…even if they were divorced. Shane was always lucky when it came to women. "Well anyway, just tell Shane we don't need 'im today…" Leon knew that Shane would be the most shaken up by this whole ordeal.

"Okay, I'll tell him know." She clicked the phone off, avoiding whatever stupid thing Leon my say.

"Mommy!" Aidan shouted from his bedroom. Charlotte moved quickly to his room and looked to see Shane tickling the boy. "Make him stop!" he exclaimed between laughter.

Without really thinking, Charlotte gave Shave's butt a good swat. She'd fallen back into her old routine too much and blushed madly when he turned and looked at her wide eyed.

"Run Aidan!" she told him. The freckle faced boy ran into the living room. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"S'okay," Shane wasn't sure what to say. This was just too weird. The four of them hadn't lived together in five years, and they shouldn't have this sort of thing happen.

When the two walked back into the kitchen, Grace was cooking the eggs.

After everyone had went about that day normally, and gone to Grace's volleyball game, Charlotte went home, both of the kids in tow. Shane would work the next day-they'd called a tow truck and gotten his jeep into the shop, until then he'd drive a squad car.

"Mommy, can Kenzi come over tomorrow after practice and spend the night? Please?" Grace asked.

"Yeah, can Sam come over too?" Aidan piped up from the backseat. Charlotte sighed. She didn't work until Saturday morning, but that was at eight.

"I've got work at eight on Saturday…I can't very well leave all of you kids there alone…"

"Yes you can. Sam's Kenzi's brother. We can watch them. Please Mommy!" Grace begged.

"What grade is Kenzi in?"

"She's a sophomore."

"Can she drive?"

"Yes. Has her own car and everything. Please!"

"While I'm at work tomorrow, where will you two be?"

"At home," Grace answered automatically.

"Aidan, promise to call me if the girls do anything they shouldn't?" He nodded. "And same for you Grace? Your dad's off tomorrow."

"Yes."

"Fine. I need to meet their parents though."

"Yay!" Both kids exclaimed at once.

**AN: There should only be one or two more chapters before Daryl makes his first appearance. Maybe three…I'm not quite sure yet. Thank you for reading. Please review :). **


	3. Chapter 3

McKenzi Hunter was _not_ the ideal friend that Charlotte would pick for her daughter. She was different, to say the least. Her hair was bleach blonde, straightened, and had hot pink highlights. She wore knee high lace up boots with a pair of short, black, jean shorts, and a black concert T-shirt. But, Charlotte had to remind herself that times had changed. During her four year sentence at King County High, those people would've been considered _weird_. But now, it was acceptable. And if Grace wasn't going to be judgmental to the girl, than neither would Charlotte.

The two girls walked up the driveway, smiling and laughing like they'd been friends for years. Which, in truth they'd only met two weeks ago when school started. Grace didn't have any of her friends from middle and elementary in her classes, and she knew Kenzi from volleyball over the summer, and they kind of became friends, given that they had the same lunch.

"Hello Mrs. Walsh," McKenzi said with a smile.

"Actually it's O'Donnell. But you can just call me Charlotte…or Grace's mom. It doesn't really matter."

"Aidan and Sam are taking the bus together," Grace said.

"Oh okay…"

"It's nice to meet you," Kenzi said with a smile. She seemed nice enough. Charlotte still wasn't sure what to think. One of the King County police cruisers pulled up to the curb. Charlotte's stomach dropped, she was so afraid that something would happen to Shane, just like it had Rick. But, to her surprise, Shane himself stepped out of the car.

"Hi Daddy!" Grace waved. "This is my friend, Kenzi."

"Shane Walsh," he offered, halfheartedly. "Charlotte can I have a minute?" She knew something was wrong. Shane didn't randomly drop by her house in the middle of the day, and he wasn't worried. He was the family rock, even if he and Charlotte were divorced.

"Girls," she paused to clear her throat, for it had gone dry. "Girls go order two pizzas, please…" Grace nodded, noticing the discomfort in the air. "So…what is it? Is Rick okay?" Shane nodded numbly and went to run his finger through his charcoal hair. "Is that…blood?" In each of their jobs they had to be prepared to deal with blood. Charlotte dealt with it on a daily basis, but Shane typically didn't have to. So, it was more of a shock when he had it on his hands than her.

"Yeah…Uh, that's what I wanted to talk to you 'bout. So we got this call-domestic violence is what dispatch said, but we get there…and the wife…She's…She's literally eatin' her husbands arm…I don't…" he was clearly frazzled. But, Charlotte was in utter shock.

"What should we do?"

"I don't…Nothin'…For now. Try not to go anywhere. I'll come back by if you need anything…"

"Do you work tomorrow?" She found herself asking.

"Not 'til 'bout six. Why?"

"The kids are having sleepovers. Can you stay with them while I go to work?"

"'Course. I'm goin' to pick up the jeep an' then I'm headin' home. Call if you need anythin', all right?"

"You know you'd be the first number I dialed…" Charlotte's parents were long gone, they had died when she was ten due to a house fire. That was actually how she ended up in King County. She went to live with her Aunt Jamie, who ended up dying three years back. They stood there for another few moments. "Have you heard anything from Lori?"

"Saw 'er when I went to look in on Rick. She's a mess. I ain't ever seen 'er like this. Hell, they'd had a fight that morning…"

"Oh, that's gotta be so hard on her…" Charlotte trailed off. She wasn't sure what else to say. She remembered how she would never leave a fight as that before Shane left while they were married, because she knew that he could die at any moment.

"Mm, I'll see ya," he said and walked back to his vehicle. Charlotte returned to the house and found the Grace and Kenzi sitting on the couch watching a movie.

"You girls get the pizza ordered?" she asked.

"Yeah, one ½ cheese, ½ pineapple and ham, the other ½ pepperoni, ½ meat lovers" Grace replied.

"That's my girl," Charlotte's favorite was pineapple and ham. "So what are you watching?"

"Pitch Perfect," Kenzi replied. Charlotte only smiled. She remembered taking Grace to the theater to see that one. The next weekend she had to take Aidan to some action movie.

"Good choice," Charlotte said with a grin as she plugged her phone into the charger in the kitchen. She couldn't help but think about Shane, and how he'd reacted to the whole ordeal. He'd been scared. But, she'd seen him scared before…It was just so much more than that this time. He hadn't even cleaned the blood off of his hands, which wasn't like him.

The sleepover was in full swing a few hours later. Charlotte had decided upon her bedroom, to hide in. The kids, surprisingly, were all getting along. She was more worried about the older girls interacting with the boys and vice versa than the people they invited over. Her phone suddenly went off and she checked the message.

_Got called into work. Make sure all doors and windows are locked, tell kids to be safe._

It was from Shane. So, right away she got up from the bed and checked her window, it was securely locked. She moved on to each window, then to the front door and the back. She sighed, satisfied with her work. "Don't stay up too late, okay?" She told the kids. They all agreed and continued to play Mario Kart.

"Everybody Up!" A voice shouted throughout the house. Charlotte was up right away. She rose from her bed, not before slipping her hand gun from her drawer into the back of her PJ pants, to find the source. "Char, get clothes, the essentials. We gotta go."

"Go where?" She asked, still hazy.

"Atlanta…Things have only gotten worse…Get the kids ready. Phone lines and towers are down. I gotta go get Lori and Carl…"

"You're talking too-"

"Goddamnit, Charlotte do what I said! We ain't got much time! I'll explain on the way!" he snapped.

She sprang into action. He'd never yelled like that, not at her anyway. She went to the kids rooms, Grace's first and opened the door. She and Kenzi were crashed on the twin bed. "Get up!" she shouted.

"Mom!" Grace protested before falling back down on the bed.

"Gracie Isabelle Walsh! Get your ass up, we've gotta go!"

"Go where? What?" It was surely important, She didn't need any more confirmation than the fact that her mother had used her whole name.

"Atlanta. Get the essentials. Clothes…camping stuff…get the tents from the garage…" She wasn't sure what they'd need, but that was something, right? Shane hadn't been specific. Though she was confused, Grace nodded anyway. Charlotte moved down the hall and opened Aidan's door.

"Aidan Connor Walsh, get up!" She exclaimed. He opened his brown eyes right away.

"Get clothes and important things together. Make sure Sam does too."

**AN: Sorry, it was short. I feel like a slacker right now. I had school today and yeah. **


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I don't personally like Andrea…or Carol really…so I'm tryin' somethin' different here lol.**

"Mom, can I go with dad on a water run?" Aidan asked happily as she hung up laundry.

"To where?" She asked cautiously. They'd been in a camp outside of Atlanta for nearly two weeks and everyone was still adjusting. Shane had become their leader, so to speak, and it was as if things had gone back to the 1900's. The women were left to the laundry, the cooking, and the cleaning. Charlotte hated it, but she didn't have much of a choice. She carried a gun on her, granted the dangers and she knew how to handle one.

"Just down to the quarry. He's taking the jeep. Please mom?"

"Be careful, okay?" she kissed his head and he went on his way. She watched her son get into the jeep with his father, and then she noticed the glance he sent Lori's way. Which, she resented. It wasn't because she was jealous, but she knew what was going on with Shane and Lori. It may not have been obvious to everyone, but Charlotte knew. And quite honestly, it made her sick. Rick had been dead only two weeks, and Lori had already moved onto Shane of all people. He was Rick's best friend! Charlotte knew that if she and Shane were still married she wouldn't have gone straight to Rick if the tables were turned. That was just wrong. It also worried her. What if he started putting Lori and Carl before Aidan and Grace? She just hoped that sex wouldn't blind him.

"Mom, can me and Kenzi go swim in the quarry?" Grace came up and asked. Charlotte sent a look over to the Dixon's camp to see the eldest brother, Merle sitting and staring, while the younger one, Daryl was cleaning his crossbow.

"I'd rather you didn't," she replied. Daryl didn't bother her. He was usually quiet and kept to himself, but Merle kind of gave her the creeps. He was loud, crude, and a mother's nightmare so to speak. He was the kind of man that she didn't want her daughter near, and Shane felt the same way.

"But mom…please?"

"Not right now. Why don't you two help me with the laundry. I have to was more and you can walk down there with me, get your feet wet."

"No, we'll just go back to our tent, c'mon Kenzi." Grace had started back talking, and been what you'd call a 'typical teenager'. Charlotte didn't like it, but unfortunately, there wasn't much she could do about it. They had more stuff to worry about.

"I can help you, if you'd like," Carol offered. Charlotte had liked her since day one. Carol was such a sweet woman, always ready to him. Her pig of a husband didn't deserve such a sweet person.

"That be nice, thank you."

"No problem."

The two took the trek down to the quarry and began using the wash boards.

"Sophia's such a sweet kid," Charlotte commented. Automatically the two shared the 'mom bond'. They were bother mothers that cared so much about their children.

"So are Aidan and Grace," Carol agreed. "You and Shane aren't married, are you?"

It was funny, they'd been living together for nearly two weeks, but they didn't know each other very well still. "I've been wonderin' this too," Andrea said from behind them.

"Need four more hands?" Amy asked.

"Well, if you're willing to work just to hear my sorry excuse for gossip, y'know, I can't really say now." Charlotte smiled at the two blondes. They both took seats and gathered up some of the laundry and began washing. "We aren't. But we were…In another life it seems like…"

"What happened?" Amy, the youngest of the women asked.

"We grew apart? Fell out of love? I don't know…It happens though. You get used to living one way of life for too long and you just don't wanna do it anymore."

"How long were you married?" Andrea asked.

"Almost ten years. Look, I'm an open book here, I don't like secrets. So I hope that y'all don't like think any less of me or anything. You're all great people."

"Why would we think less of you?" Amy knitted her brow. Charlotte, from what she'd seen was pretty awesome. The first night in camp, while everyone was still recovering from seeing the city bombed, she got everyone organized and away from danger. She brought the group together.

"We got married straight out of high school because I was pregnant…" She shrugged. "I don't know…It's probably a common thing, but in my town, it didn't happen much."

"The way I see it, you did the right thing and raised two good kids," Andrea said. "And it's not like you and Shane cheated on each other. We're not judging you. Hell, have worse skeletons buried in my closet. A list of asshole ex-boyfriends-"

"Andrea always goes for lost causes," Amy commented, earning her a smack on the arm from her older sister and a look that could kill. "Hey! It's true!"

"So what! You always date losers!"

"Calm down you too," Charlotte said in a motherly voice.

"Yes mom," they said at the same time, causing Charlotte to roll her eyes. She was younger than Andrea, so she wasn't sure how well that worked out.

Across the way, they could see Shane and Aidan filling up jugs of water. "Anybody else wonder what's goin' on between him and Lori?" Amy offered to the conversation. Another smack to the arm from Andrea followed.

"Must we ask that here?"

"Ow! Stop hitting me!"

"Girls, calm down," Charlotte said, again. She shook her head, they fought like cat and dog! They were worse than Grace and Aidan. "Plus, Andrea, I really don't mind. I'd like to know that myself."

"Hi Mom!" Aidan called over, waving to his mother. She waved back and finished with the basket she was working on. She stood and moved it out of the way. As she headed back to her spot, she heard tires against the dirt, and Shane's jeep was approaching.

"I can take up all the wet laundry so y'all don't have to carry it," he offered. Charlotte stood yet again.

"Thank you," she went to pick up the basket of wet clothes when the dark haired man stopped her.

"That's heavy. I got it, Char," he stated, and put it in the back of the jeep, which Aidan opened.

"Thanks…again."

"Mm hm. Anymore?"

"I've got one," Carol too went to pick hers up, but Shane took it and added it to the jeep.

"Last call." He looked around and saw Amy and Andrea still working. "A'right. See y'all. Be careful now."

"Bye Mom!"  
"Bye sweetheart."

Everyone went back to their original task and Charlotte started washing more laundry. The blonde sisters had brought down two more baskets. "Chivalry isn't dead," Amy snorted.

"Shut it." Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"And what's with this 'Char' thing?" the younger blonde asked.

"That's just what he calls me. Always has. Did anyone get the Dixons' laundry?" The three other women looked around awkwardly. "I'll go get it." Her hands were getting wrinkly anyway. Plus, she wasn't afraid of the Dixons. Merle worried her a bit, just because she was never sure where his head was at, but Daryl seemed harmless enough. Hot-headed, but harmless. He wouldn't hurt anybody that didn't deserve it, she could tell.

As she made her way up the hill and to the rednecks' camp, she watched people, who wouldn't know each other if it weren't for the circumstances, interact. Kids played, life went on. She slowed her gait the closer she got. She didn't really want to speak with Merle. And, she was in luck. Only Daryl was out of the tent. He was sitting and cleaning his crossbow.

"Do you have any laundry you want washed?" she asked. He didn't look up from his task, not once when he spoke.

"Why ya askin' me for?" He replied. His tone was always harsh, she didn't like it, but at least he wasn't making crude comments. "Y'all ain't never asked 'fore."

"Well I am, because I'm doing the laundry. And did you ever think to, I don't know, maybe bring it to me or someone to wash it?" Her tone was harsher than she intended, but he seemed like he'd be like a duck anyhow. Whatever she said wouldn't stick like water to a duck's back, it would simply roll off.

"Merle, get yer lazy ass up," Daryl said, rising from his spot. He unzipped the tent and walked in. Charlotte heard low speaking between the brothers before Daryl came out with a pile of clothes.

"Do you have a bag or something to put them in? My arms around that big…" The pile would be heavy. _And stinky_, she thought. They'd smell like sweat and other unknowns.

"No. Guess I can carry 'em," he offered halfheartedly. He didn't really want to, but they needed their laundry washed. He'd worn the same things a few times over now, and with animal blood and days worth of sweat on them, his clothes were getting pretty rank.

"I'd appreciate that." He sighed and began following her to the quarry. If he was going to offer, she'd take advantage of it.

"Damn," another rough, southern accented voice called. "Girl, where ya goin'? My bed's this way!" It was Merle…Of course.

"Why ya think I'm goin' the other way?" Charlotte called back.

"Yer confused, that's all. I'll straighten things out for ya."

"Go to hell, Merle," she replied, her voice flat. She wasn't going to let any of it affect her. He was only doing it to get a rise out of her. After all, there was no way that worked with anybody that had more than half a brain cell. Merle certainly wasn't a looker. "This camp won't last long…Not enough people." At first, Daryl thought that she was talking about the impending walker threat but then she continued. "People are like horny animals…it won't be long until everybody starts sleeping with people…And then it'll all crumble and it'll be like a reality TV show."

"More than the asshole cop an' his skank?" Daryl offered. Charlotte knitted her brow. Then she figured it out.

"Lori and Shane?" Daryl nodded. Charlotte started to say something about Shane not being an asshole cop, but he'd been an asshole to Daryl for no reason, so she couldn't exactly correct him. "So it is true…"

"Assholes scared off a deer," he mumbled to himself, making a disgusted face.

"Dangerous, stupid, and keeping us from venison. Those assholes!" Charlotte said with the shake of her head. She looked over at Daryl and saw the corners of his lips twitch, before they receded into a frown.

When they arrived at the quarry, Daryl dropped the clothes and left. _Well that was odd,_ Charlotte thought to herself. She wasn't sure how she felt about the younger Dixon brother at this moment. He wasn't really what she'd expected. That was their first real conversation and he hadn't made any comments about anything sexual-well not that had to do with him really…Just that Lori and Shane were moronic and scared off a deer, which didn't count.

**AN: It was longer this time. And, Charlotte actually spoke to Daryl! Lol, I won't be rushing into anything between the two, just an fyi.**


	5. Chapter 5

"I need to talk to you," Charlotte said tapping on her ex-husband's shoulder. He turned and looked at her with a confused look. They were atop the RV and they could see the whole camp.

"What?" he asked. "I'm kinda watchin' over the camp…"

"This is important and it'll only take a second." She took a seat in the lawn chair beside him. "Shane, you and Lori need to stop, or at least be more discreet. I mean how can you even-"

"I don' know what yer talkin' 'bout Char," Shane said with a lopsided smile, but Charlotte could see that he was hiding something.

"Don't even try that with me Shane. I know you better than you think. We were married, remember? You can't lie to me."

"Charlotte-"

"Don't," she warned. "Just watch it. It's ignorant for you to be doin' that shit in the first place. That is Rick's wife. Whether he's dead or not, you need to stop," she left, not allowing him to have the last word. That was how she used to win arguments. Charlotte was one that always had to win, but so was Shane. That was one of the things that caused them to spit.

"How are you today, Charlotte?" Dale asked, meeting her at the bottom of the ladder.

"I'm okay. It's hot. How 'bout you?" She liked Dale. He was sweet, and he was very morally driven and she liked that.

"I'm just fine, thank you. Maybe you should get a hat. I've got an extra inside the RV."

"No thanks, I don't think I could pull that off," she smiled softly. "Thanks though."

When Shane saw Dale making his way up the ladder he stood, ready to get off of watch.

"Charlotte would you mind watching Carl for a few minutes?" Lori asked, one hand on her hip. The other one she used to shade her eyes.

"Um, I've got my own kids to watch. Besides, you don't need to go running off into the woods to have sex with their father," with that, she walked away. She walked over to the clothes line and touched one of the shirts, testing whether or not it was dry. And it was. She started folding the clothes one by one. She put them in separate piles depending on where it was supposed to go. Grace and Kenzi walked over and began wordlessly folding more clothes. Between the three of them, it took substantially less time. They were done in the matter of minutes. "Thank you, girls."

"You're welcome, Mom. Can we please go swimming now, please?"

"For an hour," she compromised. "Keep your eyes open, and take your pocket knives. Deal?"

"Deal!" Grace hugged her mom.

"Thank you," Kenzi smiled. The two ran off to go get changed.

"Want some help?" Carol asked when she saw Charlotte began picking up separate piles.

"Um, sure."

"I'll take my family's pile," Miranda Morales offered, walking over.

"It's right there," she pointed to a group of clothes.

"I'll take T-Dogs and Jacqui's," Carol said. The remaining piles were for Charlotte and her children, along with the Dixon brother's pile. Lori had already taken her and Carl's clothes apparently. _At least she does something more than just Shane,_ Charlotte thought with a bitter laugh. Shane's clothes were gone too, she could only assume that Lori took those too.

Charlotte made her way to the Dixons' camp. Once there, she set down the basket she had put the pile in. "Damn, twice in one day ya've brought yer fine ass over here," Merle said.

"I thought I made it clear to you earlier," Charlotte placed her hands on her hips. "I'm not interested. Maybe you should go find someone dumb enough. Maybe Lori."

Merle made a face and shook his head. "She ain't got nothin' on ya."

"Well, that's your problem," she started to walk away but she literally ran into something, someone rather. Whoever it was had a strong chest. "Sorry," she said quietly.

"Shoul' watch where yer goin'," a voice she recognized to be Daryl said. She started to move around him to continue on her way. "Brought back som' squirrel, when they're clean I'll bring 'em to ya."

"Oh, okay," she agreed. She walked back over to main fire in camp.

Once the dinner was cooked, Charlotte left it up to the rest of people to pass out the food. She had prepared two plates, and made her way over to the Dixon camp. "Here, I figured you two might be hungry," she said. They were seated around their own fire and mumbling to each other.

"How lucky am I, Sugar Tits?" Merle asked. Charlotte simply rolled her eyes.

"Just take the food," she held the plate out to him. He took the food, she held out the other one out to Daryl.

"Thanks," Daryl mumbled.

"You're welcome, Daryl," Charlotte smiled at him. She walked back to the other fire and made herself a plate. She took a seat next to Aidan. She kissed his head. "So what's up with you?" she asked him. Sam was to his other side.

"Jus' eatin'," he said eating a piece of squirrel.

"That's my boy. And you, Sam? Staying out of trouble?" She asked the other boy.

"Yes," he murmured. Things were a bit harder for him. He and Kenzi's parents were dead. Or at least that's what they assumed. Charlotte had called them before they left King County. Their mother had picked up. After answering with a 'hello' she screamed bloody murder, and then the phone lines cut off.

"That's good," the tousled his hair gently and gave him a soft smile.

"Hey y'all, listen up," Shane said. He stood before the group, his foot was rested atop a log and he leaned on his knee. "Y'all know that Glenn has been makin' runs into Atlanta…Well tomorrow, he wants a group to go with 'im. He'll take volunteers, but ya need to know what yer gettin' into. It ain't safe, and ya may not come back."

"Daddy, are you goin'?" Aidan asked in a tiny voice.

"No little man, I gotta stay here an' watch over y'all." Charlotte didn't want Shane going anymore than Aidan did. But it was kind of odd that he wasn't, when she thought about it. He was supposed to be their 'leader'. Shouldn't their 'leader' be the first one to lay down their life for the group? Sure Shane had a family and all, but again, he was the leader. And a leader couldn't really be biased. "If ya wanna go jus' tell Glenn," he reclaimed his seat between Grace and Sam.

"Mommy, are you going to volunteer?" Aidan asked his mother. His lip quivered in the process. He was always more of a mommas boy, Grace was kind of the opposite. Aidan was tough when he needed to be, he'd broken his arm once and barely shed a tear. Charlotte all the while, was losing her mind crying, he was staying strong for her. Charlotte had the habit to freak out when it came to matters dealing with her children. She loved them more than anything. There was even one time when she was at work-she'd only recently become a nurse, she worked through college while Grace was still a baby, and Shane was at home with Grace-who was only four at the time, and Charlotte was barely even pregnant with Aidan, she'd found out a few days earlier.

_"What's the matter, sweetheart?" Charlotte asked, bending down to her little girl's level. She set her bag on the floor in the process. _

_"Daddy smacked my bum." The little girl replied, tears dripping down her cheeks._

_"He did what now?" Her eyebrows were raised and she was ready to go kick Shane's ass._

_ "He spankeded me," she replied. Charlotte stood and went off in search of Shane. Their house wasn't every large, a two story, two bedroom, two bath, so she walked through the living room-where Grace's toys were everywhere. That was undoubtedly the reason Grace had gotten a spanking, but it was the principle of it now. _

_ "Shane!" Charlotte shouted angrily. _

_ "What, Darlin'?" he walked out of the bathroom and started to give her a kiss, but she pushed him back. She would've thought that after four years of marriage, he'd know her angry tone by now. _

_ "What the hell is wrong with you!? Why'd you spank Grace. I thought we agreed that we _wouldn't_ spank our children."_

_ "We did," he agreed. "But let me explain," he kept his cool. Someone had to, right? And since Charlotte was ready to murder him, it was left up to him. "She wouldn't listen to me for nothin'! She's got them Goddamn toys everywhere! I stepped on one, and she started throwin' a fit when I tol' her to pick 'em up. I warned 'er, I really did, but she wasn't listenin'! Besides, it was jus' a little love tap." _

_ "Shane! You don't realize that you are _way_ stronger than you think! A 'love tap' from you hurts like hell! I've been there. That's why I wanted the now spanking rule. Plus, she's gonna be scared of you now…You've gotta go make this right."_

After that, Shane didn't spank Grace again, and Aidan had never gotten a spanking. Charlotte knew that he hadn't meant to hurt their daughter, he loved his kids, but it had still made her angry beyond belief.

"Would you just talk to me?" Shane asked, following his ex-wife around the camp. She'd been giving him the cold shoulder the whole morning. Earlier in the day, Glenn, Jacqui, T-Dog, Morales, Andrea, and most surprisingly-Merle, had gone into the city. Charlotte was doing work around camp, she'd gone with Amy earlier in the day to look for mushrooms, and they'd come across something they hadn't wanted to see. Charlotte found that the quickest way to piss off Shane was to ignore him.

"Carol, do you have anything you need help with?" Charlotte asked the older woman, still ignoring her counterpart.

"No, I was just going to teach Sophia a bit…Maybe Aidan and Sam could come too, and we could teach them together?" she offered.

"Um okay, sure." Charlotte looked up to Dale, who was on the RV, as if to ask if he knew for sure where the children were at.

"All of the kids went with Amy and the two older girls to the quarry. They said something about lookin' for crawdads," the older man replied.

"Well, maybe we should give them some time to play," Charlotte suggested.

"Probably…" Carol agreed.

"Charlotte, if you're looking for something to do, you're more than welcome to take watch," Dale offered.

"Okay. Let me grab a water."

"I'll help too," Shane said lowly. As soon as she was on top of the RV, he climbed up and Dale climbed down. "You're so childish," he said, taking a seat next to her.

The only problem with the silent treatment was that it didn't work with her at times. She wanted to bad to just slap him across his face. "I'm so childish?" she asked with a bitter laugh. She rolled her eyes and took a drink of her water. "I'm not the one running around like a horning teenager unable to keep it in his pants for five seconds! For God's sake, Shane! What if it had been Grace or Aidan that had seen you! Or Carl for that matter! Do you realize that none of them would ever be able to look at you the same again. Hell, I don't think I can either! I just wish I could unsee _that_. You seriously couldn't pick somewhere at least private if you're going to do that!"

"Whatever Charlotte. It ain't like I never see you at the Dixon camp. You think _that_ doesn't bother me."

Charlotte couldn't help it. She laughed, probably harder than she should have. "You really think, that just because I'm over at their camp, I must be screwing one of them. Wow, please, _honey_, enlighten me. Which one am I sleeping with?" The first time he replied she couldn't really hear him. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that." She smiled a sticky sweet smile, it was like honey that had gone bad.

"Daryl."

"Well, at least you didn't insult me by saying Merle. I mean, he is _much _better than you," she snorted and climbed down from the RV. He could think what he wanted. She didn't really give a shit. He was really getting on her nerves today. Usually they were good friends, but maybe being trapped together all of the time made her realize that it was a damn good thing that they were divorced.

Rather than waiting for the kids to come back, Charlotte found a pile of laundry, one that they'd forgotten about the day before, and began sorting it. She found one shirt that she knew belonged to Daryl. She figured that since everyone else was scared to go over there, she might as well be the one to take it to him. Plus, it kept her busy. She unzipped the tent and stepped in, figuring she could simply put it on his bed. But what she saw, she was taken aback by. Daryl's back was to her, his bare, scared back. She could see multiple raised welts that had long ago become permanent on his skin.

"The hell ya doin' in here!" he shouted, throwing his fresh shirt on quickly. He wasn't sure how he'd missed the sound of her approaching or her opening the tent. He guessed it was kind of because he was used to Merle coming and going as he pleased.

"That's from a belt…isn't it?" She couldn't apologize. Her mouth had gone dry and those words were the only ones that she could form. She knew exactly what it was from. And his next words only confirmed he thoughts.

"Get the hell 'way from me!"

**AN: So there is chapter 5. Someone said something about line breaks last chapter…Well I don't have time usually when I post this to add them, and I like to keep it consistent. Like last chapter wouldn't have had any anyway. This chapter that's what the 3 * things are for. There's also something else I wanna bring up, I keep getting reviews about people thanking me for writing the character as a 32 year old adult, is that like rare or something? I mean, I don't get to read very many stories anymore…I just thought that it would be fitting for the character. Please review. **


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Um this chapter is kind of dark…Just a warning. Well in my opinion it is…The first part is, anyway, it won't be the only part throughout the story, just so y'all know. I don't usually write this sort of thing, but I thought I'd do something different. Please tell me if this needs to be M rated…**

_"No please stop!" The small girl begged. Her back stung and she could almost hear the blood seeping from her body and onto the old, warn, filthy carpet. Her heart pounded in her ears and her knees threatened to buckle, but she knew that if she fell, it would earn her an extra five lashes, which she couldn't handle. _

_ "You knew what ya was gettin' into when ya came in late, Cara!" the whiskey reeking man shouted in her ear. _

_ "I'm sorry!" she cried, but her screams and please only fell to deaf ears._

"Ow!" A small voice called, bringing Charlotte from her horrid thoughts.

"Oh my God, Aidan, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" she frantically wiped the small puddle of blood from his ear. She took the scissors back, and stopped cutting his hair for a moment.

"I'm fine," he murmured. "Can you just be careful, please?" The sun was starting to dip lower into the sky and Charlotte was worrying for the people that had left earlier.

"I will, I'm truly sorry, sweetheart…I just kind of zoned out, I guess." She felt terrible. She harmed her son because she was distracted.

"It's okay," he assured her.

"Hey there, Aidan," Shane grinned and sat down. He and Charlotte weren't speaking but Charlotte had always been sure to leave the children out of their quarrels. "Ya wanna to go frog giggin' tomorrow?"

"Yeah!" he exclaimed happily. "Is Carl comin' too?" he asked. Carl was a good friend of his, but he didn't really like sharing his father.

"Yeah. But he don't have a dad no more." Shane reasoned. Charlotte sent a dirty look Shane's way. She knew that he cared for Carl before, but he was only doing this because of Lori.

"All right, you're all done," She kissed her son's head and sent him on his way. "What the hell, Shane?"

"What?" he asked. "Yer actually gonna talk to me now?"

"Only because this concerns my kid. He clearly wants to spend time with just you, and you're inviting someone else's kid along. How would you feel then?"

"_How would I feel?_ Charlotte, he's a boy, we gotta toughen him up."

"That's not toughening him up! Toughening him up would be taking him hunting and keeping him to provide for the group, _one on one_, not making him share his dad with some other kid. I can't believe you," she stood and walked away. She seemed to do that a lot, but she didn't want to argue further. She set the scissors back inside the RV on the table and walked back outside. She nearly ran into a teary eyed Amy. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine…I just want Andrea to come back…" Amy sniffed. "Excuse me," she moved into the RV, and Charlotte decided to go on her way. She wasn't sure what to do with herself.

Some sort of alarm went off in the distance. Charlotte went on high alert and reached for her gun-which was tucked into the side of her pants. She rested her hand on it, ready to pull it out if need be.

"Talk to me Dale," Shane said, coming out of nowhere.

"Stolen car's my guess," he replied, binoculars to his face. A bright red car pulled into the quarry and Shane rushed up to where it stopped.

"Do you think that's them?" Amy asked the light brown haired woman.

"I'm not sure…" Charlotte replied. She felt Aidan slip his hand into hers and she looked down at him and smiled. Sam was at his side, and stood quietly. When Glenn was the one to step out of the car, everyone relaxed a bit. Amy made her way over to other two men, frantically asking questions.

Seconds later, a large truck pulled up. "Stay here, boys," Charlotte told the children. She had a natural curiosity, and given that she knew it was safe, she could find out what was happening. She gave Glenn a quick hug, happy he was safe. "So what happened out there?"

"This guy came out of nowhere, he was shootin' up the streets, I rescued him," Glenn smiled.

"What a hero," Charlotte laughed and nudged him playfully. She knew that he was trying to flirt in a way, but he was far too young for her, and he wasn't really her type to begin with. She preferred what every girl preferred: tall, dark, and handsome.

Suddenly, the door to the truck opened and another man stepped out. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the figure made his way forward. Charlotte gasped and turned pale white as if she'd seen a ghost, well she kind of had. Rick Grimes made his way towards the group. "DAD!" Carl shouted, running towards him. Lori stumbled to him next, and he hugged them both tightly.

When he released, he gave Shane a manly hug and moved to embrace Charlotte tightly. She nearly started crying, not only because her friend was alive, but because she knew what Lori and Shane had done and how heartbroken Rick would be if he knew. "I thought you were dead…" She murmured into his shoulder.

"Me too," he agreed with a laugh. "Where's Grace and Aidan?" he asked.

"Aidan's over there and Grace is somewhere around here," she smiled. They both pulled back and she sniffled, trying not to fully cry. When she looked at his kind eyes, she couldn't hide everything about Lori and Shane from him. They had better tell him before she had to. "Wait…Where's Merle?" She looked around and noticed he hadn't made a reappearance. She didn't really want to see him, but she didn't want to see him dead, either.

"Um, 'bout that…"

"Don't you dare tell me he's dead…" Charlotte didn't have an attachment to him, but Daryl did. And without Merle, Daryl had nobody. Merle may not have been much but he was all that Daryl had, and she couldn't imagine losing the only person that she had.

"We had to leave him…There wasn't any-"

"RICK! Could you imagine being all alone in this place? I mean…"

"Char…What are you talking about?" he rested his hand on her shoulder. She wasn't quite sure why it upset her so much, but it was a scary thought.

"Merle has a brother…Daryl is all alone now, think about it Rick. He has nobody…That could be any of us in the blink of an eye. And now it's all your fault-well yours and the rest of the people that went."

"Charlotte," she had begun to walk away, but Rick caught her arm. He pulled her back to face him. "It bothers me that we left 'im…But I have T-Dog the key…I had no intention of leavin' him…" She eyed him intently for a moment, she saw the hurt that his blue eyes held. It was clear that he felt terrible.

"Shane," Charlotte grabbed her ex-husband's arm and pulled him over to somewhere private. "I need to talk to you."

"What? I'm busy," he stated. He was irritated right away. She had a look on her face that meant that she was about to lecture him about something.

"It's important. You and Lori _have _to tell Rick."

"With all due respect," he put he hands on his hips and licked his lips. "That ain't yer place. Some things are better left alone."

"Well _with all due respect_," she hated that phrase. It was always followed by a disrespectful remark. "This _isn't_ one of them. You can't look at such a kind man and ignore the fact that you slept with his wife."

"Watch me." Shane wanted to just forget it ever happened. Rick was back now and he was sure that Lori would just want to move on with her own life.

"If you and Lori don't tell him, I will."

"The hell you will!" Shane exclaimed. "Ya won't help anythin' by tellin' him. You'll be the one to end their marriage."

"That'll still be on you and Lori."

"The hell it will! It'll you fault for tellin' him! You really wanna ruin another marriage, Charlotte?" Shane said, snidely.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" The much shorter brunette asked, already annoyed.

"You know exactly what I mean! I didn't want to get divorced and put our children through that, but _you_ couldn't work through your issues an' I couldn't even come near ya without ya wincin'. You were scared of me and-"

She couldn't take it anymore. She gave him a well deserved slap to the face. "How dare you?" Her voice was quiet, she couldn't even shout back at him. Her heart hammered in her ears, making it hear his next response. But, he yelled it, so she could hear him perfectly.

"How dare _I_?" he laughed with an eye roll. "That was another thing, you could always bring up my transgressions but not yer own. What the hell ever, Charlotte."

She hated the way that she was at a loss for words. She wanted to go off on him…but he was right. She never owned up to what she had done wrong. She always blamed everyone else. Shane turned and walked back towards camp, and she couldn't blame him. Maybe it wasn't her place anymore. But, she still thought that someone _should_ tell Rick…and it would sound better coming from Lori or Shane. She didn't want to _have_ to tell him, but she wouldn't keep him in the dark either.

_Charlotte's POV 1996_

_Sometimes I can't help but think that the grass may be greener on the other side…That just maybe I _could_ be happy. I mean it doesn't sound too irrational, does it? Maybe a place where people didn't know me…Where I could be someone different. I'm good at making up stories…Maybe, just maybe I could rewrite my own. I sighed, knowing that it was impossible. I was stuck in the small Kansas town…I hated it here, I hated all of the people in it. Nothing was fair and there wasn't anybody hear that gave a damn about another person. _

_ A little nagging voice in the back of my mind gave me the idea of running away. But, where would I go? I don't have any money or any friends…I had always wanted to go east…From the few times I'd watched television, I'd seen how southern people seemed to care for each other…Forging documents couldn't be that hard, could it? All I had to do was take all of my original documents and make them someone else's…Right? _

_ I could do it, I decided. I could run away to somewhere safe…I couldn't stay here anymore so that was the only solution. _

_ Happily, I began to walk back to the small trailer that I called home. It was extremely run down and if a tornado ever came our way, it would be the first to go. When I opened the door-only help by one hinge, a sharp blow came to my face…Everything went dark…_

**AN: There it was…I hope you guys liked it. Please review and tell me what you thought. I'd like to know how you're feeling about the direction I'm taking this.**

**On a separate note, I'm out of tennis for a week-due to a shoulder injury…So, expect updates to be a little more frequent-unless I have a lot of homework…Which I hope isn't the case. Thanks y'all!**


	7. Chapter 7

_Charlotte's POV 1996_

_ When you're little, everything seems huge. The country seems like it would take years to walk across. But, in reality, it has only taken me a few days. I kept up a good pace and I sold my only possessions for money. My mother's wedding and engagement ring, her diamond earrings-all of which were bought during better times. I only kept one thing, her gold locket. It will be forever around my neck. That much I promise. _

_1997_

_ I felt like I should feel some sort of success. I had gotten away, I had found a place to be safe...and now I was even back in school. King County High School was a strange place. People fit into their stereotypes well, I noticed. There wasn't a single person that dared step out of their clique. And I didn't fit into any of these cliques-not that I wanted to. These people annoyed me. The girls all wore frilly dresses and skirts-I wore jeans and T-shirts. I couldn't walk in heels, let alone prance around the school in them. But, I guessed I should be grateful to even be in school. It took me some time to get used to going by Charlotte, but I managed. I'd made up some story about being from Texas. It was a big enough that I wouldn't have to say much. _

_ "So, I tol' him, that I didn't have my homework done 'cause I had a baseball game to win and-" Whatever the boy who was in my history class was going to say was lost when his friend cleared his throat. _

_ "Uh Shane..." They both stopped at the table I was sitting at, setting their lunch trays down. _

_ "I'll leave," I said. I stood and was ready to go until 'Shane' touched my arm. I reflexively jerked back. I blushed right away, I had to remind myself that the past was the past and to live in the present. _

_ "Ya don' have to. If ya ain't got anywhere to sit...we got room," he offered. I looked at him, refusing to meet his gaze and nodded softly. He was tall, so tall that he towered over me almost-or so it seemed. I was 5'5" he was probably 5 or 6 inches taller than me. But he was built with broad shoulders and strong arms. He was intimidating and I think he realized it, but his tone was very soft with me. _

_ "Thank you, I appreciate it." I realized how small and helpless I felt being here-a table with two guys twice my size. I always felt that jocks were jerks, so I had tried to avoid them at my old school, and even today. _

_ "So what's your name?" the other man asked. I looked up for a second and met his kind blue eyes. _

_ "M-Charlotte," I said. "And yours?" I looked briefly at each of the two._

_ "Rick Grimes," the one with kind blue eyes offered. _

_ "Shane Walsh," the other one, the raven haired, chocolate brown eyed one said. _

_ "Where are you from?" Rick asked._

_ "Texas." Short answers were always the best route to take._

_ "Where at?" _

_ "San Antonio," it was the first city I could think of. Austin or Dallas would be too obvious anyway. _

_ "Huh," Shane said. "Bet it's weird not bein' in the big city, hm? Out here in the middle a nowhere."_

_ "It's okay here..." I said. It actually wasn't much different out here then it was where I was really from-except the people were nicer. Even if I didn't like the high school kids, they didn't go out of their way to be mean, they were just creatures of habit. Maybe if I would've been born into a different situation I'd be the same way. _

_ I was so distracted that I missed to brunette and the blonde walk up and set their trays down. They were both in what appeared to be cheerleader uniforms. I nearly scoffed out loud. _

_ "Hey Rick," the brunette said with a smile. She took a seat right next to him and the blonde took the other side. If I hadn't been paying attention, I would've missed the way Shane sighed and rolled his eyes. _

_ "Who's this?" the blonde asked Shane, a if I wasn't even there. _

_ "Charlotte, that's Rachel," Shane addressed me. I could tell that he was annoyed by this 'Rachel' chick. _

_ "Wait...my name's not Charlotte..." she said._

_ "I'm just going to go, I've gotta find my next class anyway," I rose from the table and threw away my half eaten lunch and started to head out of the cafeteria. I pulled my schedule out of my pocket and started to scan through what classes I'd already gone to. English was next. I started towards my locker. _

Present Day

What Daryl saw when we walked back into camp wasn't something that he expected. It was still dark out, the morning sun had not yet rose, and he figured he could catch a few hours of sleep before the rest of the camp woke and he'd return to hunting. But he hadn't expected to see someone undressing with their back to him.

In the light of the full moon, and the reflection from the quarry water, he could see raised lines across the female's back. He knew exactly what those were from. He decided that rather than feeling like some pervert, he would make his presence known. He made his steps heavier then they were when he was hunting and the person whipped around quickly, clutching a shirt to her chest.

"Jesus!" She exclaimed. He realized then that it was Charlotte. "Who's there?" She only hoped it wasn't a walker or Ed or someone.

"Whatcha doin' out here by yerself? If I was a walker ya'd be dead," Daryl said.

"I happen to be trying to bathe," she said. "Since I can't do so during the day." He wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear the last part or not, but he did.

"That's how ya knew," he murmured in realization. She knew what his scars were from because she had them herself. He couldn't help himself from asking his next question. "Did Shane do that to ya?"

"No," she said. She was back to her one word answers. But then she realized that if she answered him, he'd be obligated to answer her. "He doesn't even know what they're really from..." She turned around and pulled her shirt back on. "Your dad too?" That was her way of telling him how, and asking at the same time.

Daryl didn't want to answer, but he did ask. So instead he simply nodded.

"It's rough, y'know? I guess it's just one of those bad-things-happen-to-good-people situations," she lowered her head when she faced him again. That reminded her about the fact that something else bad had happened to Daryl and he didn't even know it. "Look, I'm only going to say this because I think it'll sound better coming from me. Promise not to flip out on me?" She asked quietly, looking up at him. For a reason that confused him, Daryl nodded. He'd seen Charlotte as the tough woman that everybody saw, but right now she was vulnerable.

"Good," she gave him a forced smile. "The trip to Atlanta…They came back a guy short…Merle…They left Merle in the city." She winced, closing her eyes, waiting for him to exploded, but it never came. All she heard was something hitting the ground then angry footsteps.

On the one hand, she was relieved, relieved that he wasn't going to yell at her, but on the other, she knew that the rest of the camp would hear it. She sighed and noticed the discarded string of dead squirrels. Carefully, as if to make sure that the gross dead things didn't come near her, she picked up the string. She held it away from her body as far as possible and went and set it at Daryl's camp.

Rather than going back right away, just in time to hear Daryl's outburst, Charlotte decided to take a walk. She wasn't stupid about it, she paid attention to her surroundings as she trekked through the woods. She listened carefully for the sound of snapping twigs or anything. Silence.

After a while of complete silence, her ears began to ring slightly. She found it odd that she didn't hear birds or crickets or anything. But, she continued anyway. She knew that Grace and Aidan would be safe under Shane and Dale's watchful eyes, if they woke. She assumed that the whole camp was awake by now, thanks to Daryl. She couldn't really say she blamed him. It was only-

Out of nowhere, somebody grabbed her. Their hand covered her mouth and pulled her against them. She knew it was a somebody rather than a something because of how they grabbed her. A walker would've simply bit her neck or any other available body part. "Scream and I shoot you," they warned. The voice was male, he had an accent, but it wasn't Southern. She recognized it, but she couldn't put her finger on where it was from. "Point me in the direction of your camp," he commanded.

Rather than complying to his demands, she stomped his foot, pulled away, and reached for her own gun-this was a maneuver Shane had taught her, but her gun was gone. She looked up at her assailant in shock. The moment she gazed upon his face-the well built squared jaw, his slight dark stubble, the freckles that dotted across his nose and under his eyes, and his eyes…Those forest green eyes…If she would've had her gun she surely would've dropped it.

"Cara…" he breathed. "It can't-"

"That's not my name," she snapped out of it right away. She had left that life long ago. "It's Charlotte. And if you're done trying to kill/rob my camp, I'll be moving on with my life." She had to hold him at an icy distance. She couldn't think of that life.

"You were dead," he said.

"Was I?" she asked, almost mockingly. "I'll tell you I would've been if I would've stayed…"

"He did the same to me, you know that. I tried to protect you…I-"

"Got to hell, Jason." She wasn't in the mood. She'd heard it all seventeen years ago.

"Cara wait!" She began stomping away, deeper into the foliage. "I had to leave you knew that."

"You didn't have to anything!" tears soaked her cheeks without warning. She carefully took in the sight of her older brother, even with her blurred vision. He was wearing an army uniform-as expected, his dark brown-almost black hair was shaved into a buzz cut, he had dark stubble on his cheeks, and he was huge-to Charlotte anyway. He easily cleared six foot, he had even more muscle than Shane, and his arms were three times the size of her own.

"Cara, don't shut me out…I'm sorry. You have no idea what it was like thinking you were dead! I came home and I searched for you everywhere. I tried my hardest. Where did you go?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"I'm your bother…I haven't eaten in days…me or my group. We need food, and I'm going to guess you need protection." She bit her lip at this.

"How many guns you got?"

"More than we can ever use. Please, Cara."

"How many of you are there?"

"Five."

"Any rapists, murderers, or thieves?" Jason shook his head.

"This is a business deal. Nothing else. You don't ask me a million questions and my name is Charlotte. Not Cara. Cara's dead."

"Deal," he agreed.

"Hey mom, where were-" Aidan froze mid-sentence. He hadn't noticed the five army men behind his mother until just then.

"Aidan, honey, go find your dad, would you please?"

Aidan hated when she or his dad did that. They made it sound like it was a request, but in reality, they were being ordered to do something. He nodded anyway and walked away.

"Did he just call you-"

"No questions, Jason," Charlotte warned.

"But-"

"What's goin' on here?" Shane asked, placing his hands on his hips.

"Shane, this is Jason and these are his friends. They figured that they could trade a few extra able bodies for some food and safety. They have guns too," Charlotte explained. "I figured since you're out unofficial leader-"

"Didn't ya hear? I ain't no more."

"What do you mean?" Charlotte was confused. Without Shane they wouldn't be alive most likely. They had their differences, but she had to give the man credit.

"Ever since Rick rolled in everybody looks at him like he's our Goddamn savior. And what's he do? He goes on a suicide mission for a sombitch that don't deserve to be rescued."

"Rick went after Merle…" the brunette concluded. Shane nodded. "Daryl went with him?" she guessed. Another nod.

"Look, if y'all wanna stay, jus' pull yer weight an' don't cause no trouble," he addressed the six soldiers. "Where were y'all stationed anyway?"

"Fort Benning," Jason answered. "It got bad up there…Our commanding officer ordered us to leave. He left me in charge of these men. Four of 'em or newbies-their first week of training. The other has been part of the army for 17 years, same as me."

"Hm," Shane nodded. He was disappointed to hear that Fort Benning was gone.

"So how do you know Ca-Charlotte?" Jason asked out of nowhere.

"I hardly think that's your business," Charlotte mumbled, annoyed.

"I think it is," Jason said harshly.

Shane eyed the two carefully. There were certainly similarities between the two, the eyes mainly. He watched the two bicker back and forth for a moment longer and then he cleared his throat. "Are you two related or somethin'?" He tried to make it sound casual.

"Yes."

"No," Charlotte protested. "I don't claim him."

"I'm her older brother."

"You're nothing of the sort."

"You didn't tell me you had a brother," Shane said to Charlotte.

"Because I don't. He's just some asshole that left. Which, maybe he should do that now." Jason refused to budge. "Fine, I'll go." Charlotte threw her hands up and stalked away. She went and sat by one of the fire pits where one of the other soldiers was sitting.

"Ma'am," he said with a salute. She nodded, not sure how to react. She wasn't anything special. "I ought to thank you for bein' so kind," he said. His southern accent was really thick.

"Don't even worry about it," she gave him a smile. "What's your name, hon?" She could tell that he was a few years younger than her. Her use of the word 'hon' wasn't to flirt, it was simply because she didn't know what to call him.

"Biggs, Judd Biggs," he replied.

"Charlotte O'Donnell," she said.

"Mom," Grace walked up with Kenzi.

"Hm?" Charlotte replied.

"Carol wants to know if you'd mind helping with laundry down at the quarry."

"Are you two gonna help for once?" They both nodded. "Good, now c'mon. It was nice meeting you, Judd."

"This all sure makes me miss my Maytag," Carol laughed softly.

"Ptf, I miss a lot more than my washing machine," Charlotte laughed. I miss air conditioning and hot showers." She stole a glance at the boys across the quarry. Shane had taken Aidan, Carl, and Sam down to catch frogs.

"Texting…Internet…" Grace, Kenzi, and Amy all sighed at once.

"I miss my vibrator," Andrea said with a shrug. The women couldn't help but laugh. Grace looked mildly confused until Kenzi whispered something in her ear. Then she nodded.

"Me too," Carol agreed after a moment. The all laughed again.

"What's so damn funny?" Ed came over and stood over them, trying to be intimidating.

"None of your business," Charlotte replied right away. She understood what men like Ed were like. He just needed someone to kick his ass so he'd stop hitting Carol-they all knew about it. Most people just decided it was best to stay out of it. But, Charlotte had always become physically sick over it because she'd been there…And then she thought of poor Sophia.

"Nobody asked you," he told her.

"And nobody asked you to come over here and run your damn mouth," she replied immediately.

He scoffed. "This don't concern you, so jus' get back to that work a yers missy. C'mon Carol."

"She shouldn't have to go anywhere with you," Andrea joined in. She thought that Charlotte was right. Ed didn't deserve to have control over anyone.

"There a problem here?" A voice from where Ed had been sitting asked.

"If there is, you're gonna have to speak to us." It was Jason and his friend that had been in the army just as long as him.

"Mind yer business. I jus' wanna take my wife 'way."

"I don't like that idea," Jason said. "What do you think, Marshall?"

"I don't like it either. So you've got ten seconds to leave these lovely ladies alone or we kick your ass."

"I ain't gotta listen to you assholes." He roughly reached forward and grabbed Carol's arm, propelling her forward, towards him.

"Get your hand off of her," Jason warned.

"Let's go," he started walking up the slope, Carol's arm in his hand still.

Things only got crazier from there. There were so many things happening at once that Charlotte couldn't see it all. She wasn't sure who threw the first punch at Ed, it she thought it was Marshall. All she knew was Ed ended up being a swollen, bloody mess. She assumed that he fought back and Jason and or Marshall kicked his ass. "Girls, go on back up to camp…See if anyone needs any help."

"Okay," they agreed. They knew that Charlotte was doing what was best for them. She felt like they didn't nee to see everything that happened and they agreed.

Well, this had turned into an eventful day, Charlotte thought to herself. 


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Is there something you guys aren't liking about this story or-? I would really love some more reviews. If there's something that you really don't like-for example, the flashbacks, let me know. I'm starting to like writing this story a whole lot, and I'd love to continue that…Please review :).**

Shane didn't notice things right away. He was focused on making sure that the three children didn't drown trying to go after the frogs. But he heard shouting and saw commotion across the quarry. "Boys," he started. They all looked up at him. "Head back to camp." He didn't want to draw too much attention to what was going on and alarm them.

"But dad…we just got-"

"Aidan, ya heard me, now go," he said firmly. Normally, he wouldn't jump to raising his voice, he knew that he could be scary when he needed to be, but Shane didn't like to scare his children too much. The boys did what they were told and Shane knitted his brow, before making his way across the quarry. "Hey! What's goin' on over here?" He asked loudly. Nobody stopped their shouting, Jason was punching Ed, Carol was crying, Amy was trying to soothe her, and Charlotte and Andrea were shouting other things. "Hey!" Shane yelled again, louder this time.

Slowly, people began to stop what they were doing. Eventually the only sound in the quarry was Carol's sobs as she went over to her beaten and bloodied husband. "What the hell happened over here?" he asked. Everybody began trying to talk at once. "One at a time!"

Andrea explained how Ed had started trouble and that Jason and Marshall stepped in.

"Y'all are here, what? A few hours? And yer already causin' trouble?" Shane addressed Jason and Marshall.

"With all due respect he started it," Marshall said.

"Shane, it wasn't their fault, they stopped much worse things from happening," Charlotte pointed out. She wasn't Jason's biggest fan at the moment, but it was something.

"Y'know what? I ain't the leader no more, this ain't my problem," Shane shook his head and headed back to camp. He did resent the fact of how the minute Rick walks into camp, everybody looks to him. Shane had been leading this camp for weeks, and this is how they repay him? Well, where's Rick now? On a suicide mission.

"Shane!" Charlotte called after her ex-husband. He turned around and faced her quickly.

"What?"

"Look, whether the rest of the camp looks to Rick or not…Me and the kids still look to you," she stated. "I just wanted to tell you that…We may not be married anymore…but I trust your gut."

"Why?"

"You've gotten us this far. I know you better…I don't know."

"Why didn't you tell me you had a brother?"

Charlotte shrugged and looked away uncomfortably. "It just never came up…"

"What about when we were getting married? Ya didn't wanna invite him then?"

"No."

"Your parents didn't mention him, and I ain't never seen a picture of him. What'd he do?"

"Shane…Those weren't really my parents," she admitted, biting her lip. I'm not from around here, either…"

"What do ya mean?" He was confused.

"Yeah, _Charlotte_, why don't you enlighten us all?" Jason suggested, coming out of no where.

"I ran away when I was fifteen. It's not a big deal! Okay? How'd this turn into questioning me?" She shook her head, and walked away, it was one of her few defense mechanisms. Lucky for her, they didn't have time to call after her or anything. The cube van that Rick and the others had left in earlier was back. Rick stepped out of the driver side, Glenn from the passenger side, and the back opened out and out came Daryl and T-Dog. No Merle.

Charlotte was the first to react. She walked quickly over to them, and surprised most everyone when she began walking towards Daryl first. "Charlotte I-" Rick started but stopped because it was too late. Daryl was stomping angrily back to his section of the camp and Charlotte was going after him.

"Daryl, stop. What-"

"What makes ya think I need yer Goddamn help?" he asked roughly. "Be better on my own."

"Daryl, don't keep me out too. The rest of this camp is either afraid of you or hates-"

"Good! Means I ain't gotta worry 'bout goodbyes."

"Goodbyes? You're leaving?"

"What's it to ya? Yeah, m'leavin'. Gettin' the hell outa this Goddamn camp."

"Why?"

He ignored her. He was right to begin with, he shouldn't make any relationships with anybody. Ever. Everyone would die or disappear. Take Merle for example, he would always leave, even now.

"Fine! Just know that if you leave, the camp will starve! Nobody here has your skills!" What she said was true, and she hated that nobody had the balls to thank him for what he always did for them. They needed Daryl just as much as-if not even more, than the needed Shane and Dale.

"Not my problem!" Charlotte sighed loudly. She knew that they'd be needing food soon, and when she was looking at the map a few days earlier, she noticed a small suburban area. There could only be a few houses, and they would probably have _something. _So, she stopped off at her tent, grabbed her gun and knife, before walking back out to where Rick, Shane, and Glenn were still gathered. Lori was nowhere in sight and neither were any of the children.

"Rick, come with me," she said.

"Why me?" he asked.

"'Cause I need help," she said.

"Why can't ya take me?" Shane asked. She sent him a look that said that he shouldn't have asked.

"Because I'd rather not possibly orphan our children," she said bluntly. "If something _were_ to happen, I wouldn't want _both_ of us to be out there."

"Where are you guys going?" Glenn asked.

"Supply run." Charlotte answered.

"They jus' brought back guns." Shane said.

"This is different. Are you coming with me or not, Rick?"

"Yeah, I guess so…" he was slightly confused. But, he wondered if this was her way of saying that she wanted to talk to him or something.

She led the way to one of the cars and she got into the driver seat, he got into the passenger seat. She quickly pulled out, before Shane could stop her from going. She figured he was mildly in shock from her coming out of nowhere with that.

"So…" Rick started, after they'd gotten nearly a mile from camp. "Lori and Shane…"

Charlotte had to stop herself from slamming on the brakes. But she did look over at him rather quickly. "Rick…Who-"

"Lori…Lori told me before I left this morning…You knew?"

"Shane was my husband, remember? He can't hide things from me…I'm sorry I didn't tell you…I just-"

"I get it, Charlotte, really. You wanted them to fess up." She nodded. "But she told me that she's not sure what she wants…"

"You mean who?" Charlotte raised her eyebrows, in shock. Rick only nodded. "That's just sick, I'm sorry. But, it was one thing when she thought you were dead and she was seeking that comfort or whatever. But now? If she wanted Shane, why wasn't she with _him_ in high school? I mean…Just wow…I'm really starting to hate that woman…"

Rick kind of scoffed. "If it weren't for Carl…I think I would've divorced her a long time ago…"

"Really? I thought that you two were happy…Before all of this…"

"To an extent…That was kind of the front we put on. I didn't want the whole town knowin' our problems…"

"Yeah," she agreed. "Maybe you two just aren't meant for each other…"

"I don't know…I think we both kind of envied you and Shane…When you were married, that was…" She nearly stopped the car again.

"What? We fought _all the time_, we couldn't agree on anything-not even what to name our children, and we couldn't ever just agree to disagree!"

"Yeah, but you always made up with each other. It was clear to all of us that there was love there. You were the wife that didn't hand out chores when he walked in. And whenever he used to talk about you, he would just be all smiles. It was kinda funny. Plus, y'all still actually had sex."

"Rick! How the hell did you know the last part!?"

"Shane. Guys talk."

"Oh my God…Was it just with you or-?"

"Eh, I knew more than most…"

"I swear! I'm gonna kill him! If I would've known that then…I just wow…" She couldn't make a coherent sentence. "And things didn't work out with me and Shane because we didn't talk anymore and the connection wasn't there anymore…"

"Yeah…That's what I've been told." The car was silent for a moment. "So why did you bring me out here?"

"Daryl's leaving…We need more food supplies…"

"Why?"

"So our camp doesn't starve…"

"Why'd Daryl leaving?"

"I'm not really sure…I think it has to do with Merle…"

A loud, ear piercing scream drew the attention of everyone in camp. Even Daryl, who froze in the middle of throwing a shirt in his bad. He grabbed his crossbow and stepped out of the tent. The scream was obviously from a child, which was worrisome to everyone.

"Carl?" Lori shouted.

"Aidan! Sam!" Shane called. The next one to follow it was that of a female. Shane got the most sickening feeling in his stomach as he ran towards the screams.

**AN: I know it was kinda shorter than the last one, but I hope you liked it. Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

_Early April 1999: Charlotte's POV_

_ It was strange how well things had been going. I never expected to actually fall in love with anybody, let alone someone that loves me back. It was an odd feeling, like walking on a cloud…I mean with Shane of course. He's been so great to me…We've been dating for two whole years now. _

_ "Hey Darlin'," speak of the devil. _

_ "Hi," I smiled. "What's up?" We walked through the hallway to our last class of the day, _

_ "Mm nothin'," he pressed a kiss to my hair, like he often did. "Jus' thinkin' 'bout tonight."_

_ "What about tonight?" I knew it was our anniversary but I didn't know what the significance of tonight was._

_ "Well after my game, I wanna take you some place…Some place I ain't ever shown ya 'fore." _

_ "Oh?"_

_ "Yeah," he grinned. _

_ "And where is this place?" _

_ "Mm, can't tell you." _

_ "Why?" I smiled at him. _

_ I sat on the bleachers at the baseball game and watched Shane hit his second home run of the game. He was on a roll tonight. I stood and clapped for him along with the other people here. There weren't very many people, about ten other girls, most of them were seniors like me and were here to watch their boyfriends. _

_ "Wow, Charlotte, he's doing great! I think they'll win," Sharron, Matt's twin sister said. Matt was one of the other guys on the team and she ended up watching the games a lot._

_ "He is," I agreed. I swore people only talked to me because I was Shane's girlfriend. They didn't know me for me, they knew me by default. Since I didn't drive and my adoptive mother adored Shane, I was with him more often than not, so basically you couldn't hang out with him without me. It wasn't because I was clingy or anything, he just wanted me with him. "They probably will…" I added as an after thought. I hated that, when people said two different statements and you only reply to one._

Rick and Charlotte pulled up to Wilshire Estates. There were quite a few houses inside a large gate. "I'll get out and open the gate," Rick said. He didn't want Charlotte to get out and do it, especially since she was driving.

"Be careful…Stay vigilant." Charlotte advised. The blue eyed man nodded and stepped out of the vehicle. Rick was shocked when he heard a gun cock.

"I-if you know what's good for you…you'll leave," a nervous sounding man said. "Pl-please. Brian will kill you and the girl in the car…Just go back the other way, quickly."

Rick didn't know what to do. So, as a default, he backed up slowly and got back into the car. "Charlotte, we have to leave."

"Is that what that man said?" Rick nodded. She backed the car up and drove away.

"Please don't go…" Grace begged. She had already killed the walker that had caused this. "Kenzi…help me here!" The green-eyed teenager tried to hold her hands over the little boy's bleeding neck.

"Move over," one of the men in army clothes that Grace didn't recognize said. She did as he commanded. "Go get some help!"

She nodded and stood to run towards camp, but nearly ran into her dad, who was leading the group to where the screams had come from. "Grace are you-"

"No time! This way," she pulled him towards Sam, who when she arrived was pale white and taking his last breaths. "Oh no…no…no…no…no." Grace pleaded, her eyes tearing up. She couldn't see a little boy that was so much like her own brother die in front of her.

Shane did the only thing he could do. He pulled his daughter into a tight hug, while she cried. Aidan stood from the ground and ran to his dad's side. Ronan, the army man stood from the ground and started to pull out his hand gun.

"Put that thing 'way," Shane commanded. "You ain't doin' that in front of my kids."

"He can't come back," Ronan reasoned.

"We'll do it 'lot more quietly."

"Here," Daryl surprised everyone when he walked out with his knife. He held it out to Ronan.

"I'm not going to do it!" Ronan said.

"Ya was read to shoot 'im five seconds 'go." Daryl took a deep breath and did what he had to do. He didn't see a single other person stepping up to do it. He had to think about how it would be beneficial to the boy, he wouldn't have to come back as a walker.

Shane silently thanked Daryl. He wouldn't have been able to do it in a million years. As awful as it sounded, he was thankful that it wasn't his son. He'd rather it be anybody but his children…They couldn't die. "C'mon, let's get back up to camp," he told his kids softly. His tone was so gentle, he couldn't imagine how traumatized they were now…He couldn't help but somehow want to blame Charlotte for it. She wasn't here, she ran off with Rick to do whatever. She left her kids on what could've been a suicide mission. And Rick, he didn't even think about his son when he left for a _second_ time after being back.

"Well that was an eventful run…" Charlotte said to Rick. He gave her a sorry excuse for a smile, for her ease. He couldn't help but worry about how close another group was to them. _A hostile group,_ he reminded himself. Charlotte stepped out of the car and closed the door before walking closer to camp. She couldn't help but notice the eerie feel the air had. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong and she knew it.

"Now you're back," Shane mumbled bitterly as he walked past her.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"You heard me. Goddamn it Charlotte, don't you care about anything? Our kids could've _died_! They were off by themselves an' a walker came out…"

"Oh my God…" she gasped. She'd address the fact that he blamed her for that to begin with later. For now, she needed to find out the well being of her children. "Are they okay?"

"No thanks to you! You and Rick run off to God knows where and your kids were in danger!"

"Need I remind you that you offered to come with me? Jesus Shane, do you know how many times I've been left here to worry about them by myself? You would go off into the woods and go God knows what and I'd have to be the one to watch them. So don't even blame me for this!" He scoffed and continued on with whatever he was doing. Charlotte sighed and walked into the RV. Her motherly instinct told her that her children would be there. And they were. She knelt down directly in front of both of them.

"Hey," she said softly. Asking them if they were okay would just be cruel. They didn't respond. Grace wiped her green eyes again and tried to speak, but cried again. "Look, I know this is hard…I can't imagine what you two must've seen…But you have to be strong. You can't hunker down and cry. I wish you could have the time that you need to grieve, but you can't…Not in this world. Plus, if you two can't hold it together…think of how hard this is for Kenzi…She just lost her only family."

"Why do we always have to be the strong ones?" Aidan asked, wiping his brown eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"You always tell us to be strong…to be the bigger person," Grace said. "Why us? Can't we be the weak ones…the small ones every once and a while."

"Sweetheart, my job as a mother is to raise you to be a well rounded grown up…It's not my fault if the other parents don't teach their kids the same." The kids didn't say anything. "Guys, I love you both. If you need anything, you can come find me-you know that. I wish I could be more sympathetic right now…I really do…But I just can't…There's so much going on and…I'm a terrible person…" She felt so awful for not crying. She felt like a terrible mother, she felt awful. She knew what the kids had to go through was so hard. But Kenzi was going through so much more…Sam was her only family. "Look…I'm going to go for a walk…" Charlotte got up and headed outside, towards the woods.

"Mom never cries in front of us…" Grace said.

"I know…" Even Aidan knew that she'd run off and cry some place else, or bottle it in. it was just how Charlotte was. They'd grown to accept it.

"Who's there?" Charlotte asked. She wiped her cheeks, much like she'd seen her kids do. Okay, she was upset, but she couldn't be upset in front of them…or anyone.

"Yer always wonderin' off by yerself," Daryl shook his head. "Won't ya ever learn? A kid died-"

"I know what happened, okay? I just wanted a few Goddamn minutes to myself!" She snapped. "Being alone is just easier. I thought you'd understand that much…"

"'Least I watch my surroundins."

"I thought you were leaving," she said, annoyed. She didn't have anything against Daryl, he was a good guy, she knew that much.

"I was, 'til I couldn't."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't have to explain myself to ya."

"And I don't have to explain myself to you," she fired back. "I don't need you coming to my rescue every time. If I'm gonna die out here then so be it." He shook his head and walked away. Charlotte felt kind of bad…She knew that he was only trying to help. "I'm sorry," she jogged to catch up with him. "I'm not the person that asks for comfort and I'm confused when people offer it…" she admitted.

"I ain't offerin' it." He stated coolly. "If that's what you thought this was, yer dead wrong."

"Okay, I'm wrong," she said. She deserved his cold shoulder. She deserved for him to shut her out. She'd started it after all. "I know you're probably going through a lot…I can't imagine-"

"No ya can't. So don' try. My brother may not've been the best person, but he was all I had."

"I know. I know he is and I won't try to imagine what you're going through. But I'm here if you want someone to talk to…"

"I don't." He quickened his pace and hurried back to camp, away from her. She sighed and decided to leave him along. Her grieving technique was similar. Don't think about it and it's not real.

As Charlotte lay on her cot-Aidan curled up beside her, while Grace slept in her father's tent, she couldn't help but think of the day's events…Everything with Sam was so awful…She couldn't believe that it happened to a child…One that she'd come to know very well, actually. She looked over in the darkened tent to try and catch a glimpse of MacKenzi's sleeping form, but it was completely dark within the tent. So she settled for running her fingers though Aidan's hair. It always soothed her to repeat a mindless action like that over and over again. Slowly, the mindless action mixed with sound of rain hitting the ground and the plastic of the tent lulled her to sleep.

_Bang!_

Charlotte sat straight up right away. She brought Aidan with her upon sitting up, but he was wide awake as well. She reached under the cot and pulled out her sole flashlight, but didn't click it on. If there were walkers, it would only draw them to her. "Aidan," she whispered. "I need you to listen carefully."

"I'm not leavin' your side," he whispered back.

"I don't want you to. Stay as close as you can to me, and do exactly what I tell you, okay?"

"Okay."

In the pitch black night the two made their way outside of the tent. "Charlotte, Aidan?" Shane's voice called in a rough whisper.

"We're here," Charlotte replied. Their tents were right next to each other's so it was only natural that he was the first person she ran into. "Is Grace with you."

"I'm here," Grace said from behind her father.

"What about Kenzi…Is she with you?" Charlotte asked them.

"No," they both replied at once.

All at once there was a scream, it echoed all throughout camp. As Shane and Charlotte silently agreed to turn on their flashlight thunder crackled and lightning flashed before rain poured down on them. A few more screams followed. They could only imagine what was going on…

**AN: Two cliffhangers in a row…I'm bad, I know lol. Please review! They were awesome last chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

"Oh my God! Mommy! Daddy!" Aidan attached himself to his mother's leg and refused to let go. There was a walker less than five feet away from the family. Shane picked up his shotgun that he'd been so smart to grab from his tent and shot it in its head.

"What do we do?" Charlotte asked her ex-husband.

"Follow me, y'all," Shane said. He began leading them towards the RV. All that was running through his mind was keeping his family safe. They were all that meant anything to him at the moment. When they got close to the RV he turned and looked to Charlotte. He grabbed her arm and looked right into her green eyes. "You take them to the top of that RV and you don't come down for nothin', a'right? Keep 'em safe. I gotta help who I can."

"Shane..." Charlotte said, she knew that tone of voice. He was scared and he was about to do something highly dangerous, which he knew.

"Go."

"Aidan, Grace, c'mon," Charlotte said firmly. She sent a lingering glance at Shane as he moved on to help the rest of camp. The brown haired mother ushered her son up the ladder first, then her daughter. Before she herself could climb up, Aidan screamed bloody murder. Charlotte looked behind her and kicked the walker with all of her mite. It fell to the ground and she saw an arrow fly into its head. She looked up and saw Daryl with his bow still aimed. She pulled the arrow of the nasty rotten thing's skull and gave it back to Daryl. "Thank you." She looked at him gratefully. She was so glad to learn that he hadn't followed through with leaving.

"Get on up there," he told her, pointing to the RV. She didn't argue, her children were more important than anyone else on the ground. She had to stay up there with them. "Here," he held out a hand gun to her, seeing that she didn't have one.

"Thank you," she said again, more grateful than words could ever describe. Handing someone a gun was like giving them a life line-so long as they could shoot it. He nodded again and she climbed the ladder. With this gun, she could defend people from above. She was a good shot, and she could no put that to good use, rather than hiding up there.

Screams came from every direction, lots of them followed by gun shots. Charlotte looked out into camp and tried her best to see what all was going on. She saw a walker come close to biting one of the army guys, so aimed her gun and quickly shot said walker. If she was stuck up here, she's do what she could for the people of their camp. She looked out and again and saw Louis and Eliza all by themselves. Morales and Miranda were no where in sight, so Charlotte had to do what she had to do. They were children.

"Grace, Aidan, I'll be right back." She started to move but Aidan attached himself to her leg again.

"No," he begged. She felt awful doing it, but she pulled away from him.

"Mommy will be back…I have to save those children." Maybe she was a terrible mother for doing it, but she'd feel terrible for whatever time she lived if she didn't at least _try_ to save Louis and Eliza. She would want Morales or Miranda to do the same for her kids. She climbed down the ladder half way before jumping the rest of the way-it was faster. She shot the walkers in her path and grabbed Louis's arm. He was younger and she knew that Eliza would follow. "C'mon," she said anyway, pulling them to the RV. "Climb up. Louis started his climb first while Charlotte stood guard.

"I told you to get up there and stay up there!" Shane shouted, coming back over, Lori and Carl in tow.

"I had to help the children!" She replied. Once Eliza started to get higher atop the RV she made Carl go next. She followed, then Lori.

Everything was fuzzy. Charlotte looked at herself in the mirror and tried to wash off the stench of dead. Her whole body felt heavy and all she wanted to do was sleep. She was so physically drained it was unreal. She rested her hands on the small sink and hung her head. In so many ways she felt like a failure. She hadn't killed enough walkers to save more lives. There were so many people dead that it hurt her.

"Char," a knock came to the door. Shane. Of course. She assumed it was only because they'd been married for so long that he had a sixth sense to when she was extremely upset. She wiped her eyes and opened the thin door. Whether she liked it or not, he was something familiar that was always something that she wanted to have. He pissed her off, so, so much at times…But he was something from her past that was important.

He walked in and closed to door back. She saw how his face was covered in dirt and had red streaks that she could only guess were blood all over him. He looked just about as tired as she did. But they couldn't sleep, no that would be too easy. They'd seen too much to not be plagued with guilt and nightmares. Silently she picked up the rag she was using, it was still damp and pressed it to his cheek before trying to wipe everything away.

"Don't," he stated, catching her hand. She looked at him questioningly. "I'll just get more on me anyway."

"It's bad for your skin…" It was a lame excuse, it really was, and she knew that. But she couldn't just come out right and tell him that she didn't really want to see the blood of the people that they'd known-or any blood for that matter, on his face. She didn't make an effort to clean his face of again, she instead looked at the rag in her hands, rather than meeting his eyes. "What did you come in here for?" she decided to ask.

"Jus' checkin' on ya. Makin' sure you're alright…"

"Is anybody really 'alright' right now? Shane, we just all saw people get murdered! I-I…What if Grace or Aidan-" He pulled her into a hug, not knowing what else to do. She cried against him, feeling so vulnerable, she felt safe with him.

"I finally got Grace an' Aidan to sleep," he said, kissing her hair.

"Good," she pulled back from him and met his eyes. "You smell really bad, by the way," she said with the smallest of smiles.

"I wasn't gonna say nothin', but so do you," he grinned.

"It comes with the apocalypse." They felt horrible for it, but they both started laughing.

"Here, I wanted to give this back to you," Charlotte held out the gun Daryl had given to her the night before to him.

"Keep it."

"I don't-"

"Jus' keep it, yer a good shot."

"I have one though…"

"An' ya can't use 'nother one now?"

"I guess you're right," she agreed. "Thank you…Again." She had been thanking him a lot lately, she realized. He nodded in response. "Why didn't you leave? You said you were going to…"

"'S a good thing I didn't," was all he said. He seemed to have a habit of not answering someone's question when they asked it.

"That wasn't what I asked you."

He shrugged. "Didn't know how things would go by myself." Charlotte picked up a hint of bitterness in his tone.

"Speaking of that…I'm really sorry about everything with Merle…I meant to tell you that yesterday."

"Ain't yer fault."

"I know but I just felt like I had to say it. It think we could all understand if you wanted to go-"

"We got more importin' things to do," Daryl moved away from her. She sighed and went back to the task that she was originally working on.

"This is a disaster," Rick said to his best friend as they walked through the woods. "I think the CDC is our best shot for some sort of hope…"

"Do you realize what that would me?" Shane asked him incredulously. "We'd be goin' right into that Goddamn city. We need to go far out into the country, where nobody is."

"They aren't gonna have a cure out there."

"An' they may not have one at the CDC neither! Look man, I don't want to bring everybody into that walker infested city."

"We won't be near any supplies out in the middle of nowhere."

"We've got guns! We've got Daryl! There's all kinds a supplies out here!" He gestured to the woods where they were doing a walk through.

"To actually be out in the middle a nowhere, we'd have to go 'lot further."

"Now you're just bein' stupid, man."

"If you were the only one your family looked to for answers, you'd understand."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Shane asked, with a look that could kill.

"Charlotte thinks for herself! You're divorced-"

"That ain't got nothin' to do with anythin'! Look, man, I keep them _all _safe. This whole group looked to me 'til you came back! I know what it's like to have 'em all lookin' to me! An' I at least speak to my wife, even if we ain't married now."

"The only reason me and _my_ wife are havin' problems is 'cause of you! You're worse than a teenage boy, thinkin' with-"

"Don't even-"

"Boys," a loud voice caught both of their attention. "Do you really think that it's a good idea to be shouting in the woods and drawing attention to us?" It was Charlotte. She didn't care what they were arguing about. She just wanted it to stop.

They shared a look, a rather dirty one at that and walked their separate ways. Shane walked past Charlotte and gave her a look that she couldn't read. Rick made his way to her and stopped right in front of her.

"I'm sorry you had to-" He started but she stopped him by holding her hand up.

"Don't, Rick. I heard it from both sides. You two were nasty to each other, and I didn't like it at all. I don't know what's gotten into either of you since all of this happened. But, you've been best friends for as long as I've known either of you and this needs to stop. If this is about Lori…Then y'all need to sit down and talk. I know I sound bossy and probably pretty bitchy right now, and I realize that this is not my place, but it's the truth."

"Charlotte…" Rick covered his face with his hands and pushed his hair back. "I feel so betrayed…By both of them! I feel like I can't trust anyone anymore…Except you. You tell it like it is…I need that sometimes."

"You say that, but you don't mean it. I'm a bit overbearing and overprotective."

"No. You're fine. You're showing you care."

"So, you're only seventeen, and you were in the army?" Grace asked Josh in disbelief. The black haired boy nodded. They were sitting away from camp, on the bank of the quarry.

"How old are you?" Josh asked.

"Fourteen. I'll be fifteen in a few months." Though she felt bad doing so, she smiled. She was the quiet one in school, so she hadn't had much experience talking to cute boys.

"I was just in training…I wouldn't have actually started until after I finished school."

"Was it difficult?" He shook his head.

"I was kind of always the athletic type…I understood the order and the organization to the army. It was a good fit for me."

"Do you have any older brothers or sisters?"

"Three brothers, all older."

"Wow, my one is bad enough," she joked. At the end of the day, she loved Aidan. He was the best little brother she could ask for. When her parents got divorced, they switched houses a lot, but she always had Aidan.

"I'm sure they felt the same way about me."

"That's just how siblings are," she smiled at him. She was quickly realizing how much he made her smile, even in the short time that they'd been talking. It was nice. She had Kenzi…but she was now gone, her parents weren't happy, and the rest of the group was downright depressing at times. She was glad that maybe, just maybe she'd have someone to relate to, someone that wouldn't be so upsetting.

"I have to ask," Josh said, deciding upon a happier topic. "Is it just me, or does Rick look like Woody from Toy Story?"

Grace gasped and smiled larger than she had in quite a while. "Yes! Okay, this may sound lame, but for Halloween, me and my family all do themed costumes. This was when I was like ten, we dressed up like Toy Story characters. Rick was Woody, my dad was Buzz, mom was Jessie, Lori was Bo Peep, Aidan was an army guy, and Carl was Rex."

Josh found this funny and laughed softly. "Wow, that's awesome. What were you?"

"I was Mr. Potatohead," she said shyly.

"Mr.?" he asked with a sly grin.

"Yes I thought it would be fun, okay?"

"Grace," a voice called. They both turned around and watched at Shane approached them. "We're havin' a group meetin', c'mon."

"About what?"

"Lot's of things. You too," he told the younger man. Shane was still pretty mad from earlier, but he couldn't express it.

"I think it's best that we go to the CDC. All that agree, we'll be leaving in the morning." Rick announced.

"You see, this is where I disagree, I think we should go out into the country somewhere." Shane said before anybody could comment on Rick's idea.

"Ain't the point to stay together? Not spit up into little groups?" Daryl asked. It seemed obvious to him and he figured that the two were just being too stubborn to realize that. "Strength in numbers an' all that shit?"

"He's right," Jason agreed. "I don't care where we go, but the more people we have the stronger we are…Besides…Splitting up weapons and supplies would be hell."

"Maybe we should put it to a vote," Charlotte suggested. 

**AN: I want to thank everyone so much from the continued reviews. You guys are amazing. I'm hoping to get in a little bit more Daryl/Charlotte stuff soon. I think by trying not to rush things I'm taking things too slow, maybe? I don't know, what do you think? Do y'all like the pace or should I speed things up a bit? Let me know, please! That way I can plan out the next few chapters. Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

Aidan shifted, causing Charlotte to wince. His bony butt was digging into her leg with every move he made. He was asleep, of course so she couldn't exactly freak out on him, but it still hurt. They were on their way to the CDC, as per the group's vote. She didn't vote that way, she voted with Shane. It wasn't because they were married once, it was because she agreed with his idea more so than Rick's. But everybody had high hopes for the CDC, she thought that they were all nuts, but she couldn't argue once the group had voted.

"Thank you, for letting us ride with you," Charlotte told Daryl as he drove. He simply nodded. They were cutting back on the number of cars and there wasn't much room in any of them. Grace and Shane were in the jeep; Carol, Sophia, and the Grimes family were in Carol's Cherokee; Dale, Glenn, Jim, Jacqui, and the army guys were in the RV; and T-Dog and Andrea were in his church van. Morales and his family had decided to go to Birmingham, where they had family. She could've asked to ride with T and Andrea, but she knew that Aidan wouldn't be able to sleep with Andrea's incessant sobbing for Amy. It wasn't that Charlotte blamed the woman, but she wanted Aidan to be able to rest. "And thank you for coming with us…I know you voted for the country too…"

"Ain't goin' off on my own." As much as Daryl wanted to, he knew he couldn't. He wouldn't have been able to watch his own back 24-7. If Merle was still around he would've gone, in a heartbeat. But now, he couldn't.

"Mommy," Aidan whined.

"I'm right here," Charlotte assured him.

"Where are we? Why are we moving?"

"We're in a car headed to the CDC," she answered him.

"Oh," he rubbed his brown eyes and looked up at his mother. "Why isn't Grace upset about everything…? She seems unaffected."

"Sweetheart," she wasn't sure where his question had come from, but she'd answer to the best of her ability. "Everyone handles things differently. Some people cry, others go into shock, and some bottle it up and don't show emotion in front of people."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Why don't you go back to sleep?"

"I'm not tired."

"Okay, well just sit tight for a while. I don't know when we'll be there."

The CDC was a massive place. It was absolutely huge. All Charlotte could think about was how many people could fit inside of it. She was so excited to think about how many doctors must be in there finding the cure for all of this. "Aidan, we're here," she shook him slightly. He had fallen asleep again, just like she knew that he would. She hadn't spoken to Daryl must of the ride simply because she knew that he wanted the quiet and he didn't want to talk.

Aidan opened the door to the truck and got out before Charlotte could stop him. He ran over to Shane and hugged his father happily.

"You got that gun I gave ya?" Daryl asked Charlotte. She looked up at him and nodded. "Keep it handy." Daryl didn't like the looks of this place. There were dead bodies everywhere. The stench was overwhelming and he could only imagine what was lurking nearby.

"Don't be runnin' 'round like that," Shane told Aidan sternly.

"But I missed you," he reasoned.

"I missed you too, bud, but it ain't safe, a'right?"

"Okay," he agreed.

Quietly, the group began their walk up to the doors of the CDC. Charlotte kept one hand on her gun; the other was holding Aidan's hand. She didn't want him out of her sight. She kept one eye on Grace, she knew that her eldest was under Shane's watchful eye, but she needed to see that her daughter was safe for herself.

Once they got to the door, making it through the maze of the rotting bodies, Rick began to bang on it, begging for entrance. When nothing happened, some people began to panic.

"This was a mistake!" Daryl shouted. "We shoulda gone out in the middle a-"

"He made a call!" Dale defended.

"The wrong damn call," Daryl murmured. Charlotte couldn't say that he was wrong. But, she didn't want to openly agree and possibly make things so much worse. Daryl meant well, he just wanted what was best for the group, but he would only make it worse.

"Mommy!" Aidan moved closer to his mother when he saw a walking rotting beast making its way to him.

"I got it," Daryl mumbled, shooting it in the head with his crossbow.

"Thank you," Charlotte replied as everyone else argued.

"C'mon y'all, back to the cars!" Shane called. He was making the executive decision to leave the city before dark. He didn't want to put them in any more danger.

"Where can we go, Shane? We don't have any gas!" Charlotte pointed out.

"We'll go as far as we can. We can't stay here."

"I know what…But-"

Everything happened so fast. One minute, Shane was dragging Rick from the door after Rick swore that the camera moved, the next the doors had open and the men ran back to the cars to get their bags, leaving Charlotte and the other women with the children.

"I'm Dr. Edwin Jenner," the blonde haired man introduced himself to the women. He'd already committed them all to taking a blood test.

"Charlotte," she offered. "These are my kids Grace and Aidan."

"Are you a medical doctor or a scientist doctor?" Grace asked.

"Scientist."

"My mommy's a medical doctor," Aidan said. He didn't trust this man.

"I'm a nurse," Charlotte corrected. "Don't mind him."

"Just so you know," Edwin said once the men came back in, bags in hand. "These doors won't open again." Everyone looked at each other and nodded. "Vi, shut down the main floor," he called. He then led them all to the elevator and they began their decent.

"Doctors always go 'round packin' heat like that?" Daryl asked, causing everyone to notice the doctor's gun.

"There were plenty of them left lying around…I familiarized myself with them. But you all seem pretty harmless enough. Except you two," he looked to Carl and Aidan. The little boys only looked at their mothers. The elevator stopped and they all stepped out. Carol looked around cautiously.

"This place…Is it underground?" Carol asked.

"Yes. But if you don't think about it, it's easier." Jenner assured her. He led them into another room and instructed them all to take a seat, for it was time to get the blood tests done.

"I can help you, if you'd like. I have experience," Charlotte volunteered. She wanted things to go a lot faster and not have everyone there forever.

"That would be helpful, actually."

So, that's what they did. Each person went one by one to either Jenner or Charlotte. Pretty soon, only Shane, Grace, Aidan, and Daryl were left within the room. Everyone else had moved on to make dinner. Daryl made his way over to Charlotte and took a seat in the chair provided. She picked up the rubber band. "Hold your arm up, please," she said. He did so and she tied it around his well toned bicep. "Hold out your arm." She grabbed her needle and found his vein. "This'll pinch a little," she warned. It was force of habit at this point. She always warned people at the hospital. She pushed the needle in, not too deep, and drew the blood that she needed. She untied the rubber band. "All set," she patted his bicep once, liking how strong his arms were, she _really_ liked his arms.

"Aidan," Charlotte called her son over.

"Daddy, come with me," he whined. Aidan was terrified of needles.

"I'm right here," Shane said. Charlotte kneeled in front of him, the angle was different so that he couldn't jump and squirm. As Shane took his hand, Charlotte grabbed the rubber band and tied it around his arm.

"Okay you're going to feel a little pinch in three…two…" She put the needle into the vein.

"You didn't get to one!" he complained.

"I know. It would've given you too much time to prepare." She felt bad about it, but he would've been tense and it would've been hard to actually find get his blood. "I'm sorry."

"That was mean!"

"I know. But you're all done. You can go on to the dinner table." She kissed his head and put the band aid over his arm. He walked off, his arms crossed. By the time Charlotte looked up to call Grace over, she was already sitting with her arm out for Jenner at his chair. She was opposite of Aidan, she was fearless. "Okay, Shane, I guess it's you." He sat down and she tied the rubber band once more.

"Darlin' you're the only one I trust to do this," he chuckled. He wasn't a fan of needles either.

"Oh, stop being a baby. The sooner you get done, the sooner you can go see Lori," the last part came out a little bit more annoyed than she meant it to. She was still kind of appalled at their relationship. How would they feel if she and Rick started up with something?

Shane looked away uncomfortably. He deserved that, he'd admit that, but he hadn't expected it. In fact, he was kind of second guessing trusting her with the needle. But, lucky for him she got the blood as normal and put the label on it. "All set." Was all she said before standing and walking over to Jenner. He repeated the steps on her and she went to dinner, like everyone else.

There weren't very many seats left, just one at the head of the table and one by the end. "Mommy! I saved you a seat!" Aidan called. He had sat himself between Shane and an empty seat, which was undoubtedly the one he'd saved for her.

"Thanks sweetheart," she said, taking the seat. One her other side was Daryl. She figured he'd want to distance himself from the rest of the group, he always did. But she didn't blame him. If she hadn't repressed most of her horrid memories, she'd be the same way. "So what are we eating?" she whispered to Aidan.

"Pasta! T-Dog's cooking it right now."

"Yum. Maybe I should go-"

"I think you've earned the right to sit down for a bit," Rick said from across the table with a small smile.

"But he shouldn't have to-"

"I'll go help him, just sit down, sweetie," Jacqui said in a motherly voice before disappearing into the kitchen.

Dinner was a joyous occasion. Everyone was happy at the table, they were passing around bottles of wine, Daryl took a bottle of whiskey for himself.

"Mom, can I try some?" Grace asked. Charlotte looked over at Shane.

"I don't see what it'd hurt," Shane shrugged.

"Okay, but just a little," Charlotte agreed. She hated the thought for entering her brain, but she couldn't help but think about how this could very well be the one and only time her daughter could try wine. She poured her half of a glass. "Aidan do you want to try some too?" she asked. Her son should get to try it too. He nodded. She gave him barely a drink. He was much younger so he couldn't drink a lot of it, she wouldn't allow it.

"I want to try some!" Carl complained. Aidan was two whole years younger than him and if he got wine then Carl wanted some too!

Charlotte handed the bottle to Rick, who started to pour his son some, but Lori put her hand over the glass from across the table.

"I think not!" she exclaimed.

"What's the harm?" Shane asked. "My kids have some."

"Well I'm not _their_ mother." Lori bit back.

"Children have a little bit of wine with dinner in Italy and in France," Dale called from the other end of the table.

"When he's in Italy or France he can try some," Lori said firmly.

Charlotte looked over at her own son and saw that he was studying the wine carefully before finally taking a sip. As soon as he tasted it, he spit it back into the cup. "Ew! You're not missin' anything, Carl! That's gross!"

"I don't think so," Grace said maturely, sipping some of the wine Charlotte had poured her. She looked over at Josh with a smile as he sipped some of his wine. He wasn't at drinking age either, but he didn't have parents there to tell him otherwise.

"No more after that," her mother warned. "I don't need my daughter to be hugging a toilet later."

As everyone began to finish dinner, Jenner deemed it best to give them a tour around the CDC.

"Now, if you take a shower," he said once they arrived to the large bathroom with about ten showers and a collection of five stalls with toilets. "Go easy on the hot water."

"Hot water?" Glenn asked.

"That's what the man said!" T-Dog exclaimed happily.

Next, Jenner showed them to the bedrooms. There were eight on each side and at the end of the hall there was another room, the rec room.

"Don't use any of the electronics, but there's plenty of books, and I'm pretty sure there's some things in there you kids can still enjoy."

Before anybody could stop them, Carl, Sophia, and Aidan all took off towards the rec room. "Grace, would you mind?" Charlotte asked. It was her way of asking her daughter to keep an eye on the kids. Grace nodded.

"I'll go with you," Josh volunteered.

"I'll leave you all to do what you please, I have some work to get back to," Jenner told them before leaving.

"Do you want to kids with you, or with me?" Charlotte asked Shane. It wasn't like she had any plans for the night, but she figured she should ask.

"We can let them pick," he said.

"Or we can have a kids' room," Dale said. "Have them all sleep in there…" He figured the adults would want some time to themselves.

"That could work…I think they'd enjoy that," Rick offered.

It was getting late, most people had retired to their rooms and Charlotte found it to be the best time to take a shower. If she would've gone earlier, she would've been asked awkward questions. But first, she stopped off in the dinning area and picked up a bottle of whiskey.

"Charlotte…" she turned upon hearing a voice behind her. Rick.

"What?" she asked, walking over to him. He was sitting atop one of the tables drowning himself in a bottle of something.

"Is it my fault? Was there something I coulda done to stop Lori from choosin' Shane…?"

"Rick, listen to me," she put her hands on his shoulders to keep his attention. He was drunk. Wasted even. "What they're doing isn't your fault. Okay? I think it would've happened no matter what…"

"But…"

"Shh…No buts-" Out of nowhere his lips were on hers for only a moment. But, quickly she pushed him back. "None of that either." He was drunk, as she had said, and she couldn't penalize him for kissing her just then. "C'mon, let's get you back to your room."

Whether he liked it or not, she was putting him back in his room. She set her clothes on the table and pulled him in the general direction of his room. "Which one is it?" she asked.

He shrugged. "They all look the same!" he slurred. She sighed and opened the one across the hall from hers, hoping that it was Rick's. No such luck. It was someone's room. They were asleep on their bed. The one on the other side of hers was the kids', and then there was Shane and Lori's room so maybe his was across from theirs. She opened the door and it was empty. She looked around and noticed the brown button down top to his sheriff's uniform.

"Here you go, Rick." She said making him lay down in the bed.

"Thanks Charlotte…" he said before rolling over and falling into an alcohol induced sleep. She hurried out of the room and went back to the dinning area to pick up her clothes and her whiskey. Then, she went off to the showers to finally take one.

**AN: I hope you liked it! I love y'all's reviews. Please continue to leave them!**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: I'm sorry for the slow update guys. I've been working on another story and I don't really have an excuse…Everything with school has just been kind of stressful. **

Charlotte hurriedly got to the showers and turned the water on. She dropped her clothes and got in, closing the curtain behind her. It was heaven! She hadn't been happy in weeks! Although her happiness was short lived at the sound of giggling, giggling that she would recognize anywhere…She'd only been hearing it for past fourteen years!

"I don't know if we should be in here," the voice giggled again. There was a pause before whoever she was with spoke.

"Don't worry baby, I've got it all under control." There was another pause before Grace's giggles resumed.

"Josh…" she said with a happy sigh. "I'm glad you came into our group."

"Mm, me too," Charlotte bit her lip, realizing what the pauses were for…They were kissing. She was blinded by rage and annoyance. She grabbed her towel from where she'd hung it on the shower curtain pole and ripped the curtain bad.

"What the hell? You're like twice her age!" she shouted at "Josh". "What the hell's wrong with you? That's _my_ daughter!"

"Mom!" Grace exclaimed.

"Stay out of this!"

"With all due respect, I'm seventeen," Josh piped up.

"Oh! That makes it so much better!" Charlotte threw her hands in the air, nearly dropping her towel in the process. "You, with me," she grabbed onto his ear and dragged him down the hall behind her. They were going to Shane's room. She didn't bother to knock. "Shane!" She called.

"Goddamn it," she heard him mumble before he sat up. "Dammit, Charlotte! Do you know what Goddamn time it is?" He asked, eyeing her sleepily. He didn't notice Josh-not until Charlotte sighed. "What's he doin' here?"

"Apparently making out with our daughter!" Charlotte didn't think about how much of an ass she was making of herself until Grace stormed off and slammed a door behind her. _Not the best way to go about this…_She realized. Not only had she embarrassed her only daughter, but she'd taken her apparent boyfriend to Shane…Grace's father. "Oh my God…" Charlotte said out loud. She released Josh's ear and ran off after Grace. She found the room her daughter was in and knocked softly. "Grace…Can I come in?"

"Go away!" Grace yelled from the other side of the door.

Lucky for Charlotte, Grace wasn't too good at this teenage storm off thing yet. The door was unlocked and Charlotte walked in anyway.

"Grace sweet-"

"Didn't you hear me? I said go away!"

"Sweetheart, I'm-"

"Go the hell away, mom!"

"Grace Walsh! Mind your mouth!" Charlotte said. "I'm trying to apologize to you! I know I made an ass out of myself. I know that I should've acted differently! Okay, I regret it. I'm sorry!"

"Mr. Walsh, I only have the best intentions with your daughter," Josh swore. "I'm only seventeen; I'm not an adult or anything…She's a great girl and she's been so welcoming…"

"Really dude, you're gonna try that on me?" Shane shook his head. "Look, what were you thinkin'? Ah-Don't answer that…" Shane knew what it was like to be seventeen. He just didn't want to think about what Josh was thinking about…

"Mr. Walsh, it's not like that. I can protect her…I know you want to do that yourself. But, you seem to have a lot of people to protect…I can help."

"You don't even understand what you're askin'. It ain't that simple. You're not a dad. You don't know what it's like to worry 'bout your kids all a the time. And I don't want you to know anytime soon. I think that's why Charlotte's worried. I don't have a problem with you-yet. But I don't want my daughter having to go through the shit me and her mom had to." Shane ran his hands through his dark hair. He couldn't believe that he had to worry about any of this. Grace was too young for this! It seemed like just yesterday she'd said her first word (dad) or took her first steps…

Grace couldn't believe she'd actually forgiven her mom already. Charlotte had spent the last few minutes telling Grace about when Charlotte had found out she was pregnant for the first time.

_ Charlotte sobbed, hanging her head as she looked at the white stick. She was too young to have a baby! She didn't even have anybody to be there for her! Shane had just broken up with her a month ago and she was still dealing with that! _

_ She knew there was another option but she wouldn't kill her baby…Never. This was her own fault and she'd live with the consequences. A little voice popped into her head and reminded her she'd have to tell Shane…The man that had shattered her heart into more pieces than she could dream of counting. _

_ Baseball practice had ended and Shane was headed to his car with his bad slung over his shoulder. Did breaking up with Charlotte hurt? Yes, but they would be going their separate ways soon anyway. It was better to end it now before he got too attached and did something stupid like said the "L" word. _

_ "Shane," speak of the devil…He turned slowly, setting the bat atop his car. _

_ "Darlin', what do you want?" he tried to be as cool as he could towards her._

_ She didn't say another word. She only reached into her pocket and pulled something out. She held it out to him and it looked down at her hand, unable to see what it was. _

_ "What is it?" he asked._

_ "Just take it," was all she said. He took the odd looking thing from her hand. As he raised it to eye level she looked at her feet. _

_ "What's this?" He asked._

_ "It's a Goddamn pregnancy test!" She shouted, sick of his stupidity. "Okay, you're going to be a dad, happy now?"_

_ "You sure it's mine?" That one gave him a solid smack to the face. _

_ "What the hell are you implying, Walsh? I'm not a whore! I've only _ever_ been with you, Shane!" _

_ "Please, I've seen the way you and Rick look at each other!" _

_ "Fuck you Shane. If you don't want to raise your kid then fine! Just know that he or she is growing up without their dad because of you!" _

_ Now that one hurt a little. Shane knew better than anyone that that baby was his. She wouldn't sleep with Rick because that was Shane's best friend and Charlotte was a loyal person like that…He didn't know why he'd lashed out like that at her. "Charlotte I'm sor-"_

_ "Really, Shane, you're _sorry_? I don't know why I even decided to tell you!" _

_ "Charlotte," his tone was really soft. He was feeling all of the guilt. He was too focused on his baseball career to really care…He _did_ care about her. She didn't turn around. She simply walked away. She didn't own a car so he assumed that she was going to walk him. Rather than following her on foot, he got in the car and began driving the path that she'd be taking. But as he drove…he quickly realized that someone had probably driven her. He drove to her house either way and parked on the curb. He jumped out of his car and went and knocked on the door. _

_ He could hear her voice, it was muffled, but he could hear it. "If that's Shane, tell him to fuck off." He wasn't sure, until he opened the door who she was speaking to. Rick's cousin, Alyssa. _

_ "Fuck off," the red-headed girl said. "Courtesy of the woman that you knocked up." _

_ "Alyssa, just let me talk to her," Shane said. "It's important."_

_ "No," she started to shut the door on him but he pushed it open and ran into the living room. _

_ "Charlotte, I need you to listen to me. I love you, okay? I do…I just didn't want to have to end things before I went off to college…"_

Of course when she told Grace the same story, she left out part of everything. Grace only got the censored version. "I just don't want to see you hurt like I was," Charlotte told her daughter.

"Mom, this is different…"

"You think that until you realize other wise, sweetheart. You're still young. I just want you to be careful…"

**AN: Again, I'm sorry. This chapter wasn't the best either. I've had a lot on my mind. I hope that you liked it anyway. Please review.**


	13. Chapter 13

They had almost died, been incinerated. Dead. Gone. Without any sort of fighting, they would've been dead. Not from a walker, not that would've been too easy. They would've been blown to ash, all because Doctor Edwin Jenner decided not to tell them that the CDC was going to explode. But, luck was on their side. They were able to escape. And now, they were all driving to some place that Rick thought that they could be safe. Charlotte's main concern was that they weren't leaving Atlanta. They were going to a nursing home within the city…

When they arrived, there weren't guards on duty but there were walkers all around. Rick pulled out his revolver and held it up.

"To hell with the noise," he said. Aidan latched himself to his mother's side. She patted his head and shushed him quietly. She placed her hand over his ear, the one that wasn't buried against her, so that he didn't have to hear the gun shots. She knew that he wasn't scared of guns, he'd been around them his whole life, he just didn't like the sound.

"It's okay sweetheart," she told him. "It'll be over soon," she assured him.

"Everybody hurry up and get in," Rick commanded once the gunshots ceased. "More will be on us in minutes."

They all went into the building and the men began working while the women stayed with the children. Charlotte half hated the barbaric way they were divided, but she would rather be by her children's side. She noticed as Grace began to rub her eyes. She made her way over to her daughter and placed her hand on her back.

"Don't worry, they'll be just fine."

"I'm not crying, mom. My eyes are really itchy," Grace clarified.

"Lemme see," Charlotte said, turning her daughter's face. Her dark green eyes were red. "Did you bring your glasses; it may be your contacts."

"No. I lost them."

"What about your solution stuff?"

"No. It's still on my dresser at home…I didn't think that we'd be gone so long…"

"Well, sweetie, those are thirty day contacts. It's been well over thirty days. You need to take them out or they're going to cause damage to your eyes."

"I know…But I can't see without them…" Charlotte didn't know what to do. Her daughter couldn't be without sight-that was one of the most important things about this world. You had to see what was around you.

"I'll talk to your dad when he gets back," she decided. "But for now, I want you to take them out. I'll be your eyes."

"Mom-"

"Grace, I've said all that I'm going to say on this. You don't need anything more wrong with your eyes."

"Mommy, is everything okay?" Aidan asked, noticing his mom and his sister talking in hushed tones. He was a curious child, so he had to know.

"Everything's fine, sweetheart. Your sister's contacts are just bothering her."

"Oh. Do you want me to go find daddy?"

"No, don't worry about it. He'll be back real soon." Charlotte told her son. She turned back to her first born. "Honey, why don't you come and sit down for a few minutes, okay?"

"S'all clear," Daryl said, walking out to the rest of the group. His eyes met with Charlotte's just briefly before he nodded and turned away. She couldn't help the blush on her cheeks.

"Mom, are you blushing?" Grace whispered.

"No," Charlotte said.

"Oh my God, you are!"

"Shush, Grace," she warned. "Not a word about this!"

"Aww! I think you've got a crush on Daryl!" Charlotte picked her foot up as they walked and kicked her daughter in the butt softly. "Hey!" she protested.

"Watch it, little girl," she advised.

"And what if I don't?"

"You won't know what's comin' to ya."

"Mm hm," Grace grinned. Charlotte was a little surprised. She didn't know why she was so open to her mother liking Daryl but… "Besides, he's better than _Lori_," that explained it. She was annoyed that Shane and Lori were a 'thing'.

"Sweetie, anybody's better than Lori."

"Well, I just don't see how Dad can go from being married to you to _that_."

"Gracie, me and your father wouldn't ever get back together-you realize that, don't you?"

"Yeah, it's just, you're so nice and pretty, but Lori-for lack of a better word-is a bitch."

"Grace!"

"You know it's true."

"Girl, don't think you're too old to get a butt spankin'," Charlotte said, jokingly. She had never laid a hand on her children; it was just kind of an empty threat to keep them in line.

"Oh my God," Grace groaned, walking into the cafeteria area. "What is that smell?"

"Mommy!" Aidan whined, hugging his mother's side.

"Don't look, sweetie," Charlotte told both of her children, pulling them to hide their faces against her. There were bodies…dead bodies that had been clearly…shot…in the head.

"If all of these people are dead…where are the walkers, why didn't they turn?" Andrea asked.

"Look 'round you. Ain't it obvious? These people weren't bitten. They were shot, clean in the head," Daryl said with an eye roll.

"What a great observation. That must've taken a lot out of a guy like you," Andrea scoffed.

"What the hell Andrea?" Charlotte reacted immediately. "You're just pissed because you were too dumb to realize what Daryl-and the rest of us did!"

"What are you? His guard whore?"

Charlotte started to move over and give the blonde a piece of her mind; sometimes she swore that all of the women in the group had constant PMS. They were always so bitchy! Shane's voice stopped her from going and beating Andrea up.

"Okay, y'all that's enough. This place ain't what we hoped for. But, it's too late tonight to leave an' we shot all a those guns earlier an' probably drew a whole horde, so we should probably sleep here for tonight."

"In _here_?" Grace asked, her voice kicking up even higher. "Are you kidding me? There are bodies everywhere!" She exclaimed.

"Grace, darlin', I know that you're squeamish-"

"Dad, this isn't about being squeamish! Look around you? I couldn't stand the thought of those rotting dead ones miles away in the city! This-this is just sick! And, disrespectful!"

"As much as I'd love to agree with you, you know he's right," Charlotte said. "We can't leave. Perhaps we go to a different room though…"

Grace sighed and followed her mom away from the mass murder scene. Aidan followed too, not having anywhere else to go, and not wanting to be near those dead bodies any longer.

"Hey, can I talk to ya a minute?" Charlotte turned around and saw Daryl quickly approaching her.

"No," she said. He looked at her, narrowed his eyes and made an annoyed face. She broke a smile. She had just wondered what someone would do if she did say no. "What's up?"

"Look, I don't need you defendin' me. I can do it my damn self," he told her.

"I know you can," she replied simply. "It doesn't mean that you would. Besides, Andrea needs to be put in her place sometimes."

"That ain't yer job."

Charlotte shrugged, further annoying Daryl. "Somebody has to do it. You let this group walk all over you sometimes. Daryl, I know that you're a hotheaded badass biker dude but that doesn't intimidate everyone now that flesh eating dead people are walking around."

"I don't give a damn. So, jus' do us both a favor an' leave me the hell 'lone."

"Is that really what you want?" He had turned around and wasn't about to turn back. He couldn't look at her; she surely had the most pitiful look in her eyes.

"I don' know," he said.

"Well, I don't want to leave you alone…" she said.


	14. Chapter 14

"Can I take watch with you?" Charlotte asked Daryl quietly. She knew that they had a rather heated discussion earlier but she couldn't sleep anyway and she noticed Glenn falling asleep where he sat next to the redneck. Daryl only shrugged. Charlotte touched Glenn's shoulder. "You can go lay down, sweetie," she told him gently. He looked up at her sleepily.

"You're the best," he murmured before walking back into the room and lying down.

"Figured ya'd be with yer kid," Daryl said.

"Grace is lying next to Josh and Aidan is with his dad. Besides, I can't sleep."

"So yer gonna come bug me?"

"I'm not here to annoy you. You just happen to be sitting here. I could see Glenn about to pass out all the way across the room."

"I could do this on my own."

"I'm well aware Daryl. I'm sorry that you don't _need_ anybody, but too bad. I might as well be useful." Daryl scoffed and looked away from her. Charlotte rolled her eyes and stayed vigilant.

"I don' need nobody. Only person I can rely on is me," he murmured. Charlotte almost missed what he said completely but she looked over at him.

"Okay, that's true, Daryl. I'll give you that. But, that's one hell of a lonely life." He shrugged. This man could be so infuriating sometimes! "Why can't you just let me be your friend? Is that so awful?" Charlotte would admit that she probably sounded kind of whiny. But she didn't care. This man was annoying her to no end! Who didn't want friends?"

Daryl didn't reply for a long while. "No," he said finally. Charlotte was different from the rest of the group. She gave him a chance and she did understand him better than the rest of them did.

"Okay then, we're getting somewhere," she said.

"Dixon, you can sleep now," a deep, sleepy sounding voice said. "I'll watch with Char." It was Shane…Charlotte would honestly rather keep watch with Daryl!

"Good night, Daryl," Charlotte said. He nodded in response and went back into the other room. "What, Shane?"

"What's that tone, why're you so mad at me lately, hm? We used to be friends."

"Key word, Shane, used. We're not anymore."

"Why?"

"Lori," Charlotte said simply.

"You're going to hold that against me?" Shane asked. "Look, me an' Lori, we're done, okay? No more. She wants Rick back." He said, looking at her.

"You're lying to me, Shane."

"No I'm not," he said. "Maybe we both wanted our exes back…" He touched the side of her face, and tried to draw her nearer.

"Stop," Charlotte backed up.

"What would I have to do to get back together with you baby, I love you, still."

"Shane…" Charlotte said slowly. She stood up and walked away. She wasn't going to embarrass herself by standing there. She went over to where her son was sleeping and joined him.

If Shane wasn't on watch, he would've followed her. He was just so confused. He still loved Charlotte, the divorce was her idea, he didn't want it. He still had confidence that they could work out their problems, but she wasn't having it. He wanted to just go back to the way things were, now. They couldn't have much life to live and he wanted to be with her for that time.

"I'm riding with Josh, okay, mom?" Grace said. It clearly wasn't a question she had already made up her mind.

"Um where's he riding?" Charlotte replied.

"The RV, I think."

"Your dad's riding in the RV too, so have fun," she wasn't for her daughter being all over some guy. She was too young for that! Charlotte walked across the abandoned area. They were in this area where there was grass and trees off from the woods. They figured that this would be a good area to discuss the vehicle situation. They were leaving Shane's jeep and T-Dog's van. "Shane, I need to talk to you," Charlotte said. They still had children together and they were priority one.

"What is it, honey?" he asked, putting his hands in his pockets and leaning against the jeep.

She ignored the term of endearment. "Charlotte decided that she's gonna ride in the RV…with Josh."

"Goddamn it, I wish she'd stay away from him. We don' need her gettin' pregnant or something worse…" Though it was awful to think about, the worst possible thing-in both Shane and Charlotte's mind-would be fore Grace to get pregnant, especially at fourteen. They trusted their daughter but they remembered their teen years pretty well and they knew what their excuse would've been, 'I wanna know what it's like before I die!'. Well, from their experience, sex did lead to babies. They were still in high school when Charlotte got pregnant with Grace after all.

"Yeah, well I want you to watch over her…"

"You're not ridin' in the RV?"

"It's gonna be so cramped. I think Aidan was hinting that he wants to ride with you anyway. And Andrea's gonna wanna be in there, Glenn, T-Dog, Dale…I'll ride somewhere else." It wasn't that Charlotte didn't like those people, she just didn't want to be in there with so _many_ people.

"Rick, Lori, Carol, Carl, and Sophia are ridin' in the Cherokee," Shane said.

"I'll find somewhere to ride."

"The RV's always an option," he reminded her. She just nodded and walked off in search of Daryl. It wasn't like she hadn't ridden with him before.

"Can I catch a ride with you? Just me this time?" she asked the dark haired redneck.

"M'ridin' my brother's bike," he told her.

"Okay, is that a yes or a no?" she asked. She hadn't actually ridden on a motorcycle before, but what would the harm be? It couldn't be more dangerous then being in the middle of Atlanta right now.

"Ya wanna ride on that?" he pointed to the bike. She just nodded. He sighed. "Fine," he finally agreed. "S'gonna be windy," he added.

"I can handle it. Thank you, Daryl."

"I just don't get why you want to give up what you had with me for a _chance_ to have something with _her_," Lori complied. Shane was doing his best to brush her off.

"I thought ya wanted Rick back," he replied. They'd be leaving soon and he wanted that to come even sooner. She was getting on his nerves; she was too hot and cold for his liking.

"He doesn't want me back, Shane."

"Well hell, Lori. I don't fucking know. Figure it out your damn self. I ain't here to make choices for ya! I've got people to worry about too!" Shane threw his hands up.

"Daddy," Aidan called from the RV. "We're going to be leaving soon."

"A'right bud, I'll be there in a minute," Shane replied. "Goodbye Lori."

**AN: Sorry it's been so long…I'm so behind on everything and I'm kind of stuck on this story a little bit…Please review!**


	15. Chapter 15

"So you married my little sister?" Jason asked Shane as they sat at the little table in the RV. Shane was busy staring out front windshield where Charlotte was on the back of Daryl's motorcycle. He didn't like seeing her on the back of the other man's bike, it was unnatural.

"Yeah," Shane said, not paying attention to the conversation really.

"Why?"

"I loved her and she was pregnant," Shane replied honestly, what good would lying do? They were divorced anyway.

"Why aren't you married anymore?"

"Difference of opinion," he said vaguely. Aidan was sitting at his father's side and Shane didn't really want to go into things.

"Are you my girl?" Josh asked Grace in a whisper as they sat on one of the beds in the back room of the RV. Ronan and the other remaining army man, Nathaniel were in there too, but they weren't paying attention to Josh and Grace.

"What? Like your girlfriend?" Grace asked in response. Josh nodded. "Yeah…I'll be your girlfriend. I've never had a boyfriend before."

"I don't believe that…A gorgeous girl like you? I'm sure every boy in school had a crush on you."

"You haven't met my father, apparently."

"He's not _that_ scary."

"We lived in a very, very small town and he was a cop. Everyone was intimidated by him. In the sixth grade, there was this boy, Jeff Thompson. He came to my house to ask me to the dance and my dad literally pulled out his shot gun and asked the boy his intentions. The poor boy may have actually peed in his pants," Josh found it hilarious, so Grace hit his arm playfully.

"Well, good thing I'm not afraid of guns, hun," he said with a smiled.

"Hun?"

"Yeah," he said, bringing her to him and pressing a gentle kiss to her lips.

"Dude, what kind of divorced guy still has pictures of his ex?" Jason asked Shane. Shane was explaining why he and Lori were no more. She had been going through his bag and found a photo album he kept that had his and Charlotte's wedding picture, various pictures of them as teenagers, her with Grace and Aidan, and just lots of other photos of their family.

"One that didn't want to get a divorce in the first place," Shane said.

"You still love her, don't you?"

Luckily Aidan was asleep. So, Shane nodded. Ronan walked out of the back room and took a seat next to Jason. "She's one of those rare women that are just perfect…For the first few years everything was as good as it could get. But after Aidan was born…We argued about every little thing and she wanted the divorce."

"Why didn't you try working things out?" Ronan asked, not being able to help over hearing things.

"We had been trying that for so long and she suggested it out of rage, and I was mad too so I agreed…"

Shane vividly remembered the day that they had agreed to get a divorce. It had started out just fine.

_ "Good mornin', Darlin'," Shane murmured, kissing the top of Charlotte's head. Her back was pressed against his chest as they spooned. That was how they always slept, and they never even used up the whole queen bed. Their house was modest and that was how they loved it. _

_ "Good morning," she rolled over and looked at him with a small smile. Even though she found her morning breath disgusting, she knew that he didn't mind what her mouth tasted like when she kissed him, she pressed a kiss to his lips. _

_ "Well, it is now," he chuckled kissing her again and pulling her much closer. She deepened the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck and allowing him to roll above her. _

_ "I bet I can make it better," she giggled, running her fingers down his spine. _

_ "Mm," he agreed pulling at the bottom of her sleeping shirt and kissing her neck gently. _

_ "Mommy! Daddy! It's time for school!" The door burst open and a five year old Aidan ran in and jumped on their bed, interrupting their fun._

_ Charlotte, being as laid-back as she was just laughed and grabbed Aidan, tackling him before blowing a raspberry on his cheek. He laughed and tried to squirm away, but she began tickling him at the same time._

_ "Go find clothes and get dressed, I'll be out in a few minutes to make you some breakfast," she said, still tickling him. He laughed loudly. _

_ "Okay, okay," he said between giggling, he ran off at the first chance that he got. _

_ "You need to get up and get ready too, Mister," she told Shane, pressing another kiss to his lips._

_ "Maybe I wanna stay in bed with you all day." _

_ "Too bad," she patted his chest and started to use him to stand up. But he caught her hand and captured her lips once more. _

_ "I love you," he said. _

_ "I love you too, now go shower, smelly."_

_ "I'm not smelly," Shane said. _

_ "Yes you are, now I have to go make some breakfast for our children." _

_ "You go do that, you sexy momma bear." Charlotte knitter her brow and laughed before going to do just that; she walked into the kitchen and put the bacon in the oven and started making the pancakes on the stove. _

_ "Mommy, can you help me with my math homework?" nine year-old Grace asked, taking a seat at the counter. "What's 7 times 12?" she asked. _

_ "Honey, why don't you get a calculator from the desk in the living room?" Charlotte suggested. She wasn't the greatest at math and she didn't want to do that much thinking right now. _

_ "Okay," Grace sighed. _

_ "Grace Leigh Walsh!" Shane shouted from the hallway. Even Charlotte turned from her task and looked at her angry husband standing in the hallway. _

_ "What daddy?" Grace asked. _

_ "What the hell? You need to come and pick up your damn mess in the bathroom!" There were two bathrooms in the Walsh house, one in Shane and Charlotte's room and one in the hallway that the children used. Grace, being the soft spoken child she was already had tear brimming her eyes. "C'mon hurry it up or you're gonna be late!" _

_ "Shane, calm down, she's just a kid!" Charlotte said shaking her head. _

_ "I've told her I don't know how many times, Char. She needs to learn to pick up after herself." _

_ Charlotte walked down the hall and grabbed his arm before pulling him into their room. "You know she hates it when you yell at her like that. She doesn't need to start crying before school, Shane. We've talked about this, kids learn better with kindness, not yelling," she sighed. "Just go make sure that Aidan's getting ready. And don't make him cry too," She was clearly pissed off, so he let her walk out the room. He loved his kids, but he thought that Charlotte babied them too much and they needed a wake up call sometimes. Regardless, he went to Aidan's room and checked in on him. _

_ "Grace, sweetheart you know that your daddy doesn't mean it when he yells at you…" Charlotte tried to console her daughter in the kitchen as she sobbed. _

_ "Why do you always defend him?" she asked with a shaky breath. _

_ "What do you mean?"_

_ "Whenever he yells at me or Aidan you're the one that apologizes to us and tells us it's okay, but he just…" Grace wiped her eyes once again. _

_ "Honey, why don't you eat your breakfast, the bus'll be here soon."_

_ "I don't have to be at work for another hour," Shane said as he wrapped his arms around Charlotte's middle as she stood, washing the dishes. She took his hands and pulled them off of her stomach before turning around and looking at him._

_ "You just don't care sometimes, do you?" _

_ "What do you mean?" he asked her, arms crossed. _

_ "The kids! You always yell at them and then I'm the one that has to comfort them! They're sweet and innocent and they hate yelling!" _

_ "I love my kids," was all he could say. She threw her hands up and stomped to their bedroom. He of course followed her. "What the hell, Charlotte?"_

_ "Shane, how can you not see what you're doing wrong? They're still little!"_

_ "I'm not doing anything wrong! You baby the hell out of them! They'll rely on us forever thanks to you!"_  
_ "Or they'll never speak to us again because of _you_!" She countered. _

_ "They need discipline!" _

_ "They need love and kind words!" _

_ "You can't just expect to be their friend and get them to do what you want."_

_ "And you can't expect to yell at them and for them to be anything but afraid of you. Shane and you can't realize that you need to stop yelling at our kids all of the time…I don't know if I can do this anymore…" To some people it may seem kind of a silly, easily fixed problem. But it had been going on for a while…And her kids were the most important things to her. She loved Shane but he was getting so wrapped up in his job, working long hours, and in a much worse mood then she'd ever seen him in. Maybe this would just scare him enough to get him to see the error of his ways. _

_ "Are you saying you want a divorce?" Shane asked. _

_ "I guess that's what I'm saying," Charlotte agreed. _

Charlotte hadn't ever ridden on a motorcycle before, but she loved it. Daryl had actually made her feel so very safe. His presence alone was what did it. Every now and then, while he would be driving down a straight stretch of road he would touch his hand to both of hers-which were wrapped around his middle securely. She wasn't sure why he was doing that, but she really loved the contact. Grace was right, she liked Daryl. Charlotte really liked Daryl, not just as a person in general, but she would like for him to be something more than a friend.

**AN: I don't know where I was going with this chapter. I'm still trying to work my way out of my writer's block…So please review!**


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